Matsue Guide…In English
English Guide to Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, JapanSHINBUTSU PILGRIMAGE
Shinbutsu Pilgrimage (photos below!) 出雲國神仏霊場（写真はテキストの下にあります！）
The Gods are everywhere in the old province of Izumo.
Tucked away between the Chugoku mountains and the Sea of Japan, this area is the birthplace of Japanese mythology, and is the home of the Gods that gave rise to the legends. They dwell in the ancient shrines of the sleepy villages and towns, deep in the mountains, forests and valleys. These Gods, of the native religion Shinto, live in peaceful harmony with the Buddhas of the many temples spread across this old province, where life ebbs and flows gently, never rushed…
The area is also the home of Izumo-no-kuni Shinbutsu Reijo, Japan’s first pilgrimage to combine the two religions of Shintoism and Buddhism. It was established in 2006 by the Enza-no-kai, an organization of local shrines and temples.
The pilgrimage covers 20 temples and shrines across 350 km of the old province of Izumo. The route is arranged in a figure of ‘8’, and starts on the western coast of Shimane Peninsula and runs through the mountains along Lake Shinji to the eastern coast. It then continues to Mt. Daisen in Tottori Prefecture, along the Nakaumi lagoon to Yasugi, deep into the mountains of Unnan, through vast gorges of southern Izumo and finally returns to its starting point in the west.
The group hope that by doing this pilgrimage deep into the heart of nature and spirituality, people will come to realize what is important in life, and feel themselves at one with the great universe. For a long time, the land of Izumo has placed great importance on ‘en’, or the forces that entwine everything and everyone – a kind of fate – and they hope that this virtue, which is central to the pilgrimage, spreads and touches everyone, rippling out through life and leading to world peace.
The pilgrimage has its own book, in which you collect stamps at each temple or shrine. The stamps are the teaching of each of the places, represented by a character. Along with the stamps, you also receive a wooden bead with the same character carved into it, and you put these on a string, which becomes a completed set of pilgrimage beads when you finish. It also has a prayer book, with a Buddhist sutra on one side and Shinto prayers on the other – a previously unheard of combination. Pilgrims are also expected to wear the official white waistcoat when visiting the holy sites. All of these can be bought at any of the temples and shrines on the route.
When you finish, you can apply to get the completion certificate, called the ‘mangan-sho’ (literally ‘wish-fulfilled’), by producing your completed pilgrimage book and set of beads.
We started it the opposite way around – on Mt. Daisen at site no. 9, and finished just across the bay in Miho at site number 8, where we were surprised to have a ceremony held just for us. (See the story below)
It took us around 4 days by car, however we did a lot of going backwards and forwards as the days were spread over a few weeks. If it’s done all in one go it should take about 3 days. But then again, you don’t want to rush round, if you do this pilgrimage you want to savour the atmosphere of each place and take in the scenery and history. It should leave you feeling peacefully invigorated, not in need of a holiday…
Day 1 Photos (Ogamiyama Shrine, Daisen-ji Temple, Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Unju-ji Temple)
Day 2 (Takeuchi Shrine, Yaegaki Shrine, Kumano Taisha, Suga Shrine, Mine-ji Temple, Susa Shrine, Nagahama Shrine)
Day 3 (Hinomisaki Shrine, Izumo Taisha, Gaukuen-ji Temple, Ichibata Yakushi Temple, Sada Shrine)
Day 4 (Gessho-ji Temple, Mefu Shrine, Kezo-ji Temple, Miho Shrine)
We handed in our book as proof of finishing the pilgrimage, and were told to wait in a wooden shelter by the gate for our completion certificate. Through a latticed window we could make out the priest and others putting on ceremonial robes. We assumed that there must be some kind of festival or ritual about to start, and that was why we were being made to wait. A few minutes later, one of the priests in a brightly coloured gown robes came over to us.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting. Come this way”, he said.
Confused, we followed him into the main shrine hall. He summoned us to kneel in front of the altar. Then the other priests came in and knelt down in front of a drum and flute. The chanting started – monotonous low tones that hummed in counterpoint to the drum, and the flute sang out, piercing the air.
Then I noticed that the crows had fallen silent.
One of the priests stood in front of us and waved a branch over our heads, which we were later told was to dispel evil. Then the priest walked slowly to the altar, placed a box on it, knelt down and began to pray. When he finished, he took the box down from the altar and presented us with the contents – the certificate and a magatama bead made from local agate, with the Japanese characters for ‘wish fulfilled’ carved into it.
The priest knelt down in front of us and offered us some small dishes of sacred sake. As we drank, the crows started cawing softly at first, then up to full volume as we got up to leave.
“Please do come back and visit us. We look forward to seeing you again”, the priest said, bowing.
As we came out of the shrine gates, across the bay and the small harbor of fishing boats we could see the outline of Mt. Daisen on the horizon. The first snow of the year had fallen, and it glistened against the cornflower blue sky. Squinting in the sun at the place where we had started, everything felt so peaceful and complete.
We drove slowly round the bay and headed back west, following the sun, until Mt. Daisen disappeared from sight.
If you would like more information about the pilgrimage, please contact us.
Ichibata Cottage, located in the grounds of the 3rd temple Ichibata Yakushi, would be a nice place to stay while doing the pilgrimage. See their English site for details and reservations etc.
http://www.ichibata.org/cottage/
4 Comments»
Gillian Jones wrote @
Is it possible to do the pilgrimage with a combination of public transport and walking?
matsueguide wrote @
Hi, thanks for your question! It is possible to do the pilgrimage by public transport and on foot, but it’ll take a while! The places in the towns or on the main tourist routes shouldn’t pose too many problems, but some of the places are a bit off the beaten track. If time is not an issue, the whole pilgrimage can be done on foot, and indeed, people have done that (I think it took a few weeks), so it is do-able. How much time have you got? If you let me know, I’ll ask one of the priests what he thinks and get back to you! Heather
This looks absolutely wonderful.
I will tell all my friends about it.
Yes, it is wonderfu! You should try it!