Junrei (巡礼) is the word most commonly used for either of two major types of

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

s in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, in accordance with

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

. These pilgrimages can be made as a visit to a group of

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

shrines A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daemon, or similar figure of respect, wh ...

, or other holy sites, in a particular order, often in a circuit of 33 or 88 sites. Other pilgrimages may center on a pilgrimage to a single site. One of the most popular pilgrimages for Buddhists in Japan is visiting the 88 temples on

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

. In certain contexts, Junrei can be used to refer to other pilgrimage practices in world religions foreign to Japan, such as the

Hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

. Pilgrimages can be organized by

tour bus A tour bus service is an escorted tour (sometimes a package holiday) or bus service that takes visitors sightseeing, with routes around tourist attractions. Information Double-decker buses and open top buses are commonly used, for provid ...

companies, taking only a couple of weeks to complete, although many pilgrims prefer to take the two- or three-month-long journeys on foot in the traditional manner. Pilgrims on the Shikoku ''junrei'' are referred to as ''henro'' (遍路) and traditionally wear

straw hat A straw hat is a wide-brimmed hat woven out of straw or straw-like synthetic materials. Straw hats are a type of sun hat designed to shade the head and face from direct sunlight, but are also used in fashion as a decorative element or a ...

s and white clothing.

Traditional observances

There are a number of rules traditionally observed while on a ''junrei''. *Pilgrimage as the ascetic. *Must not kill any living things. *Must not say immoral things to women. *Have some medicines for your unexpected bad condition. *Must not drink any alcohol. *Do not quarrel with your partner. *Do not have a lot of money. *Do not have unnecessary baggage. *Pay attention to your food hygiene. *Go to an inn before it gets dark. *Must not go out of an inn during the night.

References

Bibliography

* Ambros, Barbara (1997)
Liminal journeys: Pilgrimages of noblewomen in mid-Heian Japan
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 24 (3-4), 301-345 * Hoshino, Eiki (1997)
Pilgrimage and peregrination: Contextualizing the Saikoku junrei and the Shikoku henro
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 24 (3-4), 271-299 * MacWilliams, Mark W. (1997)
Temple myths and the popularization of Kannon pilgrimage in Japan: A case study of Ōya-ji on the Bandō Route
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 24 (3-4), 375-411 * Reader, Ian and Swanson, Paul L. (1997)
Editors’ introduction: Pilgrimage in the Japanese religious tradition
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 24 (3-4), 225-270 * Reader, Ian (1997)
Review: Local Histories, Anthropological Interpretations, and the Study of a Japanese Pilgrimage
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 30 (1-2), 119-132 * Reader, Ian (1991). Religion in Contemporary Japan, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press * Watkins, L. (2008)
Japanese travel culture: An investigation of the links between early Japanese pilgrimage and modern Japanese travel behaviour
New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies 10 (2), 93-110 Japanese pilgrimages Buddhism in Japan Shinto in Japan ja:巡礼 {{Shinto shrine