Complete three-day, two-night tours covering the entire pilgrimage are also offered by Toei Kankō Bus Tours four times a year: in April, June, October, and November. For further information, visit their office in the Kōtsū Kaikan building east of Yurakuchō Station in Tokyo, or call (in Japanese) 216-2068 or 216-2091.
Bicycles, convenient for the temples and sights in town, may also be rented. One shop is located ahead and to the right of Chichibu Station as you exit, just past a handicrafts shop. Another shop is located in Nagatoro (see p. 143).
For those who speak no Japanese, a Finding List is provided listing all temples, shrines, shops, restaurants, museums, and bus and railroad stops mentioned in the text, in romanized Japanese and Japanese characters. Use this list to confirm destinations or request assistance if lost.
PART ONE
PILGRIMAGE
THE THIRTY-FOUR KANNON TEMPLES
No Buddhist deity in Japan has inspired such a wealth of artistic creation, religious tradition, and folk custom and belief as has Kannon (Kuan-yin in Chinese; Avalokiteshvara in Sanskrit). The name is often translated Goddess of Mercy, but the deity may assume male or female form. In the Buddhist pantheon, Kannon is a bodhisattva (in Japanese, bosatsu), an enlightened being who has foregone Nirvana in order to remain on earth and help those who are suffering. The personification of infinite compassion, this bodhisattva will render aid to all who invoke the name Kannon, which literally means “hearer of cries.”
People have always adored, rather than revered, Kannon. When Japanese call on Kannon-sama (adding the honorific form of address), they feel a certain peace of mind. The image they associate with the deity may vary from an exquisite statue designated a National Treasure to a weathered bas-relief in a country lane. Worship may not be on a regular basis, and the worshiper’s exhortations may be for entirely selfish ends. However, it is understood that the Kannon’s compassion for human weakness and capacity to relieve suffering are infinite, and available to all who seek them.
To gain the help of the deity, a prayer while chanting the name Kannon will suffice. This simple form of Kannon worship spread rapidly after Buddhism reached Japan in the sixth century and was assimilated into the culture of the country. A pilgrimage is a more elaborate traditional form of Kannon worship. It began as a religious discipline of dedicated monks. Later, some emperors and nobles, weary of political strife and the strain that life imposed upon them, went on pilgrimages to seek spiritual fulfillment. Eventually, the journey became an end in itself—a quest for physical and mental well-being—and this had a synergistic effect in promoting the popularity of Kannon.
The first pilgrimage course was begun in western Japan by grouping together the famous Kannon temples of Hase-dera in Nara, Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto, and Ishiyama-dera near Lake Biwa. Incorporating the worship places of ascetic monks in Kumano in southern Wakayama Prefecture, a course linking thirty-three temples was laid out around the twelfth century. The number thirty-three is significant because the sutras teach that Kannon can appear in thirty-three different forms. It was a long hazardous journey, and followers at this early stage would have been limited to certain privileged worshipers. Called the Saigoku sanjū-san reijō (Saigoku pilgrimage to thirty-three holy sites), it gradually began to attract public attention and flourished in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Today, it is held in high regard for the spiritual perseverance required to complete the trek. Spread over seven prefectures, beginning in Kumano and ending in Gifu, it takes almost ten days by car, or three to four weeks on foot and by car.
Soon after the foundation of the Kamakura shogunate in 1192, the course of a second pilgrimage was organized in the Kantō region. Its creation may have been supported by the third shogun, Sanetomo, who inherited his dedication to Kannon from his father Yoritomo, the founder of the shogunate. Beginning in Kamakura, the route winds about the Kantō plain and ends at the southern tip of Chiba, where Yoritomo had spent his youth in exile. The Asakusa Kannon temple in Tokyo is the thirteenth temple on this course. Called the Bandō sanjū-san reijō, (Bandō pilgrimage to thirty-three holy sites), after the old name of Kantō, the route was reasonably well known, but problems of access and geographical sequence prevented it from becoming as widely popular as the first course.
Nevertheless, the popularity of these pilgrimages led to the creation of miniature courses in many parts of the country. Farmers, who accounted for the vast majority of the population and who had time to spare in the off-season, became particularly enthusiastic pilgrims. Their participation contributed to the rapid growth of the pilgrimage courses; more than two hundred were created by the end of the Edo period in the mid-nineteenth century. Of these, the Chichibu course had natural advantages: it was close to Edo, the capital and main population center, and there was no checkpoint between the two places. In the eighteenth century, the Chichibu pilgrimage affirmed its importance by adding one more temple to its course, establishing a one-hundred-temple Kannon pilgrimage in the combined three large courses, the number conveying an image of perfection and completeness.
According to archives dating from the eighteenth century, the village of Tochiya in Chichibu, site of the first temple of the course, received 40,667 pilgrims between New Year’s and March 21 of 1750. The village of Shiroku, near Temple 30, accommodated 52,881 in the same period. Given the total population of 17,000, according to a 1786 census, in all sixteen villages of the Chichibu basin, the number of pilgrims reported is staggering. Villagers on the pilgrimage route often had to cater to the needs of visitors two to three times their own number. Local authorities, gravely concerned about maintenance of order in their areas, repeatedly issued warnings against unfair rates for transportation, overnight accommodations, and other services. Evidence of the popularity of pilgrimages all over Japan are also the innumerable stories of miracles and songs in praise of Kannon that were composed. In some villages, the Kannon pilgrimage was so important that it constituted a rite of passage for the villagers.
Westernization and modernization have inevitably led to a decline of old customs in Japan, including pilgrimages. In the 1950s and 1960s, moreover, the Japanese were too involved in rebuilding their war-devastated economy to pay much attention to their religious traditions. Many temples of the Chichibu pilgrimage fell into disuse and ruin. Recently, however, there has been a revival of interest in the course, and many pilgrims can be seen hiking from temple to temple, although the majority arrive in packaged bus tours. Harried by the pressure and competition of the modern urban lifestyle, people are turning to the warmth and comfort provided by the traditional faith in Kannon. Its simple but profound message of universal salvation holds great appeal to modern Japanese and will likely continue to sustain the popularity of the Chichibu pilgrimage.
In this book the pilgrimage course is divided into six itineraries, each manageable as a day walk of eight to ten miles. (Ways of getting to, from, and around Chichibu are introduced beginning on p. 17.) The use of a taxi or bus is recommended occasionally to eliminate overly long and less interesting hikes, but the true charm and significance of the pilgrimage lies in walking. The first three itineraries (Temples 1 through 25) will take you through somewhat urbanized areas in and around Chichibu City. In fair weather, you may hike in street clothes and comfortable walking shoes. The last three itineraries (Temples 26 through 34), wind through hilly terrain and require a little more advance preparation. Hiking boots and a rucksack with food, water, extra clothing, and rain gear are a good idea. You should not risk bad weather or darkness while on hiking courses.
Some pilgrims might find itineraries one through three a bit too long. However, these temples are convenient to public transportation, so itineraries may be abbreviated to one’s liking. Much of the course is fine for hiking with children, with itineraries shortened accordingly. Temples 1 through 4, 20 through 23, 26 through 28, or 31 or 32 individually, would make shorter and more manageable day trips. Although directions from temple to temple have been