JJRS > Volume 43 Issue 2 The Way to Gyō: Priestly Asceticism on the Shikoku Henro

Shultz, John A.

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The Shikoku henro is arguably the most literary pilgrimage of the contemporary world. An unprecedented publication boom during the Heisei Era (1989– present) is centered especially on personal accounts of walking the 1,200 kilometer journey. A major theme among the more than 140 henro diaries that have been published in this era, and especially those of pilgrim priests, is that of asceticism. In this analysis I consider the narratives of several Buddhist clergy to highlight various interpretations of pilgrimage austerities. I use this data to analyze theoretical assertions concerning Japanese asceticism. I argue that asceticism is best viewed as a family grouping of phenomena that exists across a wide spectrum. As such, the concept is poorly served by a bounded definition contingent on some universal essence or formulaic set of rules.