Pilgrimages And Spiritual Quests In Japan

This book examines journeys of self discovery in Japan and what they provide for those who embark on them. From spiritual quests to established pilgrimages, it considers a wide range of historical and contemporary examples, all of which help to build a picture of how such quests form part of individual and collective efforts to find a meaningful, grounded existence, physical health and emotional balance. It goes on to consider notions of physical and metaphysical space and journeys towards altered states, and of the past and present search for the liminal as well as for fulfilment. It also explores new forms of pilgrimage as well as highly contemporary topics like theme park tourism, journeys for artistic inspiration, and travel experience as a learning process, all of which have often been compared to pilgrimage. The book brings to attention the need for a detailed, diverse, anthropological understanding of quests, showing how they serve to reward, change lives, and provide for individual and collective well-being. In the variety of ways in which such quests meet the needs of those who undertake them, it concludes that spiritual journeys in Japan may need to be reconsidered outside a framework of notions Western tradition usually associates with the term 'religion'.Rodriguez del Alisal, Maria is the author of 'Pilgrimages And Spiritual Quests In Japan', published 2007 under ISBN 9780415323185 and ISBN 0415323185.