Pilgrims until we die: unending pilgrimage in Shikoku
The Shikoku pilgrimage : history, legends, ascetics, and the structure of repetition -- Modern stimulations : money, health, time and commemoration -- Living on the pilgrimage : perpetual itinerancy and 'professional pilgrims' -- Attitudes, practices, schedules and triggers : addictive pat...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic/Print Book |
| Language: | English |
| Subito Delivery Service: | Order now. |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
New York
Oxford University Press
[2021]
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| In: | Year: 2021 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Japan
/ Shikoku
/ Shikoku hachijū hakkasho
B Japan / Buddhism / Religious life / Pilgrimage / Pilgrimage / Pilgrim / Pilgrimage account |
| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy BL Buddhism BN Shinto KBM Asia |
| Further subjects: | B
Buddhist pilgrims and pilgrimages (Japan) (Shikoku Region)
B Pilgrims and pilgrimages Psychology B Religious Life B Shikoku Region (Japan) Religious life and customs |
| Online Access: |
Table of Contents Blurb Volltext (doi) |
| Parallel Edition: | Electronic
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| Summary: | The Shikoku pilgrimage : history, legends, ascetics, and the structure of repetition -- Modern stimulations : money, health, time and commemoration -- Living on the pilgrimage : perpetual itinerancy and 'professional pilgrims' -- Attitudes, practices, schedules and triggers : addictive patterns and the intensity of performance -- Pilgrims and their cars : sociability, scenery, faith and enjoyment -- Walkers on the way : multiplicity, motivations, health and retirement -- Concluding comments and new challenges. "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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| Item Description: | Includes bibliographical references and index |
| ISBN: | 0197573592 |
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197573587.001.0001 |