Tag - pilgrimage

 
 

PILGRIMAGE

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
LIFE / Travel / Longform
Apr 15, 2024
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on
After a five-year absence, kabuki has returned to Kotohira. Can it be the draw that this tourism-hungry town desires?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 29, 2018
Chichibu: Steeped in tradition, but challenged by industry
The city of Chichibu, about 90 minutes by train from Ikebukuro, Tokyo, has a population of approximately 60,000. The region, which sits in the shadow of Mount Buko and alongside the Arakawa river is steeped in tradition with more than 300 festivals taking place each year.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 23, 2018
No right way to complete Shikoku's 88-temple pilgrimage
"Get in the car." An old woman in thick glasses and a knitted hat gestures from her seat behind the wheel.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 21, 2016
Shikoku's 'path less traveled' is busier than ever
A pilgrimage route stretching across Shikoku, one of Japan's four main islands, has recently been attracting more non-Japanese visitors with various cultural and religious backgrounds.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 22, 2015
The experience of a 'Japanese Buddhist Pilgrimage'
The pilgrimage experience is not singular. It can be a journey of enlightenment, a chance to improve your health or to expiate for a wrong deed. And there's also the more mundane business of administering to blisters.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Aug 24, 2014
Murakami's 'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki' tops New York Times' best-seller list
Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami's book "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage" topped the New York Times best-selling hardcover fiction list for the week after being translated into English and put on sale Aug. 12.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2014
Korean guide still loves Japan despite racist slurs on temple sites
A South Korean guide whose trail marker stickers on the famed pilgrimage route in Shikoku may have been targeted by racist posters said Thursday night that she is perplexed by the reaction but still loves the Japanese people.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2014
More racist stickers discovered at Shikoku pilgrimage restrooms
Racist stickers are found at three more restrooms along the 88-temple Shikoku Henro calling on hikers to 'protect our precious pilgrimage route from Korean hands.'
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2014
Anti-Korean sign discovered on popular pilgrim trail
A xenophobic notice calling for the exclusion of foreigners was discovered Wednesday on the route of a popular 88-temple walking course known as "Shikoku Henro" on Shikoku.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2014
Shikoku's temple trail faces long road to UNESCO listing
By failing to align their strategies, the governments of Shikoku's four prefectures have hampered their efforts to get the island's ancient Buddhist pilgrimage trail on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2014
U.S. 'henro' tell story of Shikoku temple trek
With a tent and bicycles, two American women in their 20s conquered 1,500 km in 16 days in September 2012 to complete the famous Shikoku pilgrimage of 88 temples.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2014
South Korean becomes first foreign female Shikoku pilgrimage guide
A South Korean living in Seoul has become the first non-Japanese woman to qualify as a guide for the 88-temple pilgrimage course in Shikoku.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 29, 2013
Exploring Japan's ancient past through pilgrimage
I've been running pilgrimages in Japan since 1997. So far, I've run the Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, the Mount Hiei Kaihogyo route in Kyoto (of the Tendai-shu monks), and tens of other smaller pilgrimages in Japan. If you are a runner in Japan, you should be running pilgrimages. If you're a hiker, you should be walking or hiking them.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 4, 2013
Off on a spring tangent on the Shikoku 88-temple pilgrimage
This week 14 years ago, I finished a five-week, 1,350 km journey running the Shikoku 88-temple pilgrimage. One of the axioms of the pilgrimage is: "You will, and must, get lost." I envision the great master Kobo Daishi, the patron saint of the pilgrimage, with a huge map of the pilgrimage in front of him, assigning ambulatories to go off on tangents in order to test their will power and tenacity as pilgrims. "What curveball can I throw at this young foreign woman?" he says, watching me plod my way from temple 70 to 71. "Ahhh, I know just the thing . . ."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 21, 2013
There are no shortcuts to enlightenment, but plenty of laughs on the journey
Spring in Japan: a time to re-evaluate, to explore spiritually the choices of the upcoming fiscal year. A season of pilgrimage.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Apr 21, 2013
In 'Tsukuru Tazaki,' Murakami once again shifts his point of view
Two thousand and nine was a good year to be a Haruki Murakami fan. Seven years after writing his last epic novel, "Kafka on the Shore," with only the bite-sized 2004 "afterdark" to tide over his readership, the author published the massive two-volume "1Q84." Looking back now, it's also clear that Murakami was in between two crests of his career.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 15, 2013
Tips for springtime on the Shikoku pilgrimage route
Setsubun is over and it is officially springtime in Japan. So what if it's still cold — happy spring! And spring means cherry blossoms, a new school year and, of course, pilgrimaging! This spring, many people will set out on the pilgrimage of a lifetime as they walk, bicycle, bus or drive the Shikoku 88-temple route. I myself try to get down to Shikoku once a year to do a bit of holy hiking. It helps keep me balanced, and in shape.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on