Ise Pilgrimages (Ise mairi)

Ise pilgrimages (Ise mairi, Ise sangu, Ise mode) were pilgrimages that commoners made to worship at Ise Shrine. Although pilgrimages to worship there without the emperor’s permission were prohibited under the ancient Ritsuryo legal code (late 7th–early 8th centuries), with the decline of the Ritsuryo system, Ise gradually became a target of worship by the general populace. In the Kamakura period (1180–1333), pilgrimages to Ise became yet more widespread owing to the formation of Ise pilgrimage confraternities, visits by Ise Shrine priests to patrons in surrounding provinces, prayers by priests for bountiful harvests and long life untouched by disaster, and the distribution of amulets and calendars. In the Edo period (1603–1867), worshipers made pilgrimages throughout the year from all regions of Japan, and the town district in front of the shrine gates flourished as well. As pilgrimages from distant regions involved uncertainty about such factors as expenses and safety along the way, Ise confraternities of various areas took the approach of collecting funds from members of the confraternity and having a number of individuals make the pilgrimage as representatives (pilgrimage by proxy). In the Edo period, okage-mairi (thanks-to-the-gods pilgrimages) arose. These were mass Ise pilgrimages made intermittently. Springing from factors such as the idea that certain okage-doshi (thanks-to-the-gods years) would be particularly beneficial and from rumors of mystical occurrences, such as sacred amulets raining from the heavens, the years 1650, 1705, 1771 and 1830 saw large-scale pilgrimages. In 1705, 3.62 million pilgrims are said to have visited between the 9th day of the 4th intercalary month and the 29th day of the 5th month. In 1771, about 2.1 million are thought to have taken part. And about 4.3 million took part in 1830. There were also nuke-mairi (absentee pilgrimages), which servants or children took part in without leave from their masters or family, and in which provisions were supplied by affluent families along the route. In 1830, one of the okage-doshi, okage-odori (thanks-to-the-gods dances) became popular. Such dances were also seen in the “Ee ja nai ka” movement (the so-called “What’s the harm in it?” movement of general carnival-like civil disobedience), which sprang up across Japan in 1867. For some members of the general populate, okage-mairi and nuke-mairi offered a respite from daily life or an occasion for sightseeing.