Contemporary Religious Meaning of the Pilgrimage Route

Abstract

In geography of religion, the pilgrimage is one of the principal topics. Traditional approaches have dealt with old pilgrimage routes and the spatial structures of pilgrims and pilgrimages. Humanistic geographers have clarified the symbolic meanings of sacred places or religious landscapes. In the 1990s, some geographers, influenced by the "new cultural geography", have challenged associations between religious phenomena and politics.This paper concerns a Buddhist pilgrimage route identified by signs, Henromichi, on Shikoku Island. While scholars of Henro have understood Henromichi's landscape and its religious meaning a priori, I will show that its landscape and meanings were built and obtained through conflict.In 1960s and 1970s, the value of the Henro pilgrimage and Henromichi had been recognized as a cultural heritage and tourism resource by authorities. Then, from 1981, Henromichi was re-built for hiking by the Ministry of Construction, emphasizing its cultural value and excluding the religious meanings of the pilgrimage route.On the other hand, a private organization, "Henromichi-hozon-kyoryoku-kai", also re-built pilgrimage routes from 1988. This group authorized its own route on the historicity and the religious meaning to claim its authenticity and differentiate it from others. In this process, Henromichi was built and obtained religious meanings.Today, every pilgrimage route is built around a conflict between their authenticities and meanings. It is therefore important to clarify the relationships between religious phenomena and politics in Japan.

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