Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee Volume 3 Issue 2 Spring 2012 Article 4 March 2012 Shugendō: Pilgrimage and Ritual in a Japanese Folk Religion Andrea K. Gill
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/pursuit Recommended Citation Gill, Andrea K. (2012) "Shugendō: Pilgrimage and Ritual in a Japanese Folk Religion," Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee: Vol. 3 : Iss. 2 , Article 4. Available at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/pursuit/vol3/iss2/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Volunteer, Open Access, Library Journals (VOL Journals), published in partnership with The University of Tennessee (UT) University Libraries. This article has been accepted for inclusion in Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee by an authorized editor. For more information, please visit https://trace.tennessee.edu/pursuit. Pursuit: The Journal of Undergraduate Research at the University of Tennessee Copyright © The University of Tennessee Shugendō: Pilgrimage and Ritual in a Japanese Folk Religion ANDREA K. GILL Advisor: Dr. Rachelle Scott Asian Studies, University of Tennessee, Knoxville The religion of Shugendō has no shrines and it has no temples. It only has the liminality of the mountains; a space that is viewed in Japan as being ground that only gods, demons, and ghosts may set foot on. But the Yamabushi are not human, gods, or even demons. Instead they are believed to be living Buddhas, rare people that, through practice in the secluded mountains, have become privy to sacred knowledge that has awakened them to their internal Buddha nature, to borrow the words of Kukai, “in this very lifetime”.