Going Round to Other Divinities

Abstract

This chapter looks first at Buddhist pilgrimage in the wider field of Japanese religion. The Seven Gods of Good Fortune (shichifukujin) are among the most accessible of all the divinities in Japan and their individual shrines, usually of relatively modest size, are places at which visitors perform a simple devotional visit. The chapter then turns to the phenomenon of circulatory pilgrimages made to a specific number of Shintō shrines and to patriotic shrine pilgrimages associated with sites at which the imperial household is held in particular reverence. It looks at the example of a pilgrimage in Tokyo round linked Shintō shrines known as Hassha Fukumairi (Good Fortune Visit to Eight Shrines) as well as other Shintō shrine circuits.