In the Japan Times this week Green Shinto friend, Amy Chavez, has been writing about the Kumano pilgrimage route. It centres around the three great Shinto shrines known as the Kumano Sanzan. The network of trails is deeply syncretic, … Read the rest
Category: Pilgrimage (Page 3 of 4)
Kyoto boasts two prominent mountains in its environs. To the north-east, guarding the devil’s gate (kimon), is Mt Hiei, 848 meters tall. Its guardian shrine is Hiyoshi Taisha, and as the ‘mother of Japanese Buddhism’ it stands … Read the rest
I’ve recently received a copy of the doctorate by Aike Rots entitled ‘The Forests of the Gods: Shinto, Nature and the Rediscovery of Sacred Space’. People may recall that he wrote an excellent account of the work he … Read the rest
There’s an anonymous website by a retired Japanese gentleman called Leisurely Walkings which gives details of his excursions. One of them was a six-day walk from Osaka to Ise, recreating the Okage-mairi of Edo times. He writes that Okage-mairi should … Read the rest
Pilgrimage to Shinojima island
February 16, 2014 Yoshitaka Tsujimoto / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
The Yomiuri Shimbun
In the Edo period (1603-1867), travel and transportation were restricted under the Tokugawa shogunate, and the only major trip most people could … Read the rest
Mountain asceticism alive today: Kumano journey refreshes body, mind
by Masahira Ueno / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer January 28, 2014
NARA—Deep in the Kii mountain range, the sounds of horagai triton shell horns echo around Sho no Iwaya, … Read the rest
There are so many must-sees and must-dos in Kyoto, but one of the favourites with people who actually live here is the Kurama to Kibune walk in the northern hills. It’s two and half hours up and over the … Read the rest