Pilgrimage to Kyoto

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Pilgrimage to Kyoto (Kyoo mairi 京参り )

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Non-seasonal Topic
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

The Pilgrimage to Kyoto with its many shrines, temples and the Emperor's palace was among the three famous pilgrimages during the Edo period, 庶民の三大行事.

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The other two were


Ise Shrine Pilgrimage, O-Ise-Mairi, Ise Mairi 伊勢参り
kigo for spring

Ise sanguu 伊勢参宮（いせさんぐう）

O-kage mairi お陰参り　（おかげまいり）
"Thanks pilgrimages" or "blessing pilgrimages," a term referring to periodic mass pilgrimages to the Grand Shrines of Ise (Ise Jingū) in the Edo period, undertaken against the backdrop of the spread of the Ise cult (Ise shinkō) from the middle ages and the general acceptance of pilgrimages by commoners to the shrines at Ise.

This kind of mass pilgrimage phenomenon is believed to have been observed some fifteen times through the early modern period, including the years 1638, 1650, 1661, 1701, 1705, 1718, 1723, 1730, 1748, 1755, 1771, 1803, 1830, 1855, and 1867. Of these, the four in 1650, 1705, 1771, and 1830 have traditionally been considered of the largest scale, with over two-million pilgrims participating in 1771.
Another characteristic of these pilgrimages is the consciousness that they were to occur every fifty to sixty years, in rough conjunction with the sexegenary cycle.

The term okagemairi is said to have become commonly used from around the time of the 1771 event, and while the expression nukemairi ("slipping away pilgrimage," one taken without permission) is also used, the two terms were normally discriminated based on their different motifs. In 1867, the pilgrimage tended to be more local in nature, and it tended on the whole to have the characteristics of a mass movement during a period of social revolution, in which "world-renewal dances" gained popularity in conjunction with the concurrent fad of the so-called eejanaika movement (an antinomian folk movement with millenarian overtones).

In sum, each occasion of the okagemairi tended to feature its own unique motifs. The significance of the term okage is not clear, but it appears to have referred either to the "blessings of the Grand Shrines," or to the fact that the pilgrimage was possible due to the "blessings of others," (namely, money and other alms given to pilgrims along the way).
©　Sakurai Haruo / Kokugakuin


nuke mairi 抜参（ぬけまいり）
leaving secretly and beg your way to Ise, often done by eloping couples to pray for their wedding

saka mukae 坂迎え（さかむかえ）
Ise Shrine Group, isekoo 伊勢講（いせこう）
daidai koo 太々講（だいだいこう）pilgrims group for Ise shrine
..... Isekoo いせこう【伊勢講】
Daidai kagura was performed at Ise shrine.


. Ise Shrine and its KIGO
Ise Grand Shrine (伊勢神宮, Ise Jingu)



. O-Kage Mairi Dolls .

　Woodblock Prints about Ise Mairi
External LINK

. Isemairi, Ise Mairi 伊勢参り Pilgrimage to Ise - Legends .


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Konpira Shrine Pilgrimage, Konpira Mairi 琴平参り
Konpira Shrine and Daruma

Palanquins of Konpira Shrine and Haiku



MAIRI 参り　 is usually a pilgrimage to a famous Shinto shrine.
Since free travel of commoners was not allowed during the Edo period, a pilgrimage was usually a good excuse to get away.



Kyoto 京都 and Haiku


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


RESOURCE GUIDE TO
JAPANESE PILGRIMS & PILGRIMAGES
Mark Schumacher


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HAIKU

短夜を橋で揃ふや京参り
mijika yo wo hashi de sorou ya kyoo mairi

in the short night
crossing bridges en masse...
Kyoto pilgrimage



おとし厄馬につけたりいせ参り
otoshi yaku uma ni tsuketari ise mairi

the devil driven
from a horse...
Ise Shrine pilgrimage

Issa is referring to the great Shinto shrine at Ise. As part of a winter exorcism ritual, a priest is driving away evil spirits--from a horse.

Issa
Tr. David Lanoue


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Related words

***** Pilgrimage (henro, junrei) Pilgrims in Shikoku,
Japan and worldwide

. Pilgrimages in Japan - Introduction .

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