Pilgrims until we die : unending pilgrimage in Shikoku /
"The Shikoku pilgrimage, a 1400 kilometre, eighty-eight temple circuit around Japan's fourth largest island, takes around forty days by foot, and a week by car. Historically Buddhist ascetics walked it incessantly, creating a tradition of unending pilgrimage that continues in the present e...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York, NY :
Oxford University Press,
[2021]
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | "The Shikoku pilgrimage, a 1400 kilometre, eighty-eight temple circuit around Japan's fourth largest island, takes around forty days by foot, and a week by car. Historically Buddhist ascetics walked it incessantly, creating a tradition of unending pilgrimage that continues in the present era, both by pilgrims on foot and by those in cars. Some spend decades walking the pilgrimage, while others drive repeatedly and do hundreds of pilgrimage circuits. Most are retired and make the pilgrimage the centre of their post-work lives, while others work full-time but spend their free time and weekends as pilgrims. Some have only done the pilgrimage a few times but already imagine themselves as unending pilgrims, and intend to do it 'until we die'. They talk, happily, of being addicted and having Shikokubyō, 'Shikoku illness', while portraying such 'illness' and addiction as blessings. Based in extensive fieldwork this book shows that unending pilgrimage is the dominant theme of the Shikoku pilgrimage, and argues that this is not specific to Shikoku but found widely in global contexts, although it has barely been examined in studies of pilgrimage. It counteracts normative portrayals of pilgrimage as a transient activity involving temporarily leaving home to visit sacred places outside the everyday parameters of life; rather pilgrimage, for many participants, means creating a sense of home and permanence on the road. As such this book presents new theoretical perspectives on pilgrimage in general, along with rich ethnographic examples of pilgrimage practices in contemporary Japan"-- |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (xii, 248 pages) : color illustrations, maps. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 0197573606 9780197573624 0197573622 9780197573617 0197573614 9780197573600 |