Kongō-zue

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Walking staff

title: "Kongō-zue" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["buddhist-pilgrimage-sites-in-japan", "walking"] description: "Walking staff" topic_path: "geography/japan" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongō-zue" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Walking staff ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Okuboji_09.JPG" caption="Kongō-zue left at [[Ōkubo-ji]], the eighty-eighth and final temple of the [[Shikoku Pilgrimage"] ::

The kongō-zue or kongō-jō is a wooden staff carried by yamabushi and pilgrims on the Shikoku Pilgrimage in Japan. The kongō-zue is said to represent the body of Kūkai and to support the pilgrim along the way; as such it is treated with respect, having its "feet" washed and being brought inside at the end of each day's journey. It is inscribed with the chant Namu-Daishi-Henjō-Kongō and Dōgyō-Ninin or "We two pilgrims together". By another tradition, it is carried aloft when crossing a bridge so that it does not touch the ground and wake Kōbō Daishi. Pilgrims leave their kongō-zue at Ōkubo-ji, the final temple, upon completion of the circuit. There is an occasional funerary practice in Shikoku and other parts of Japan whereby the decedent is dressed as a pilgrim and placed in the casket along with a staff and pilgrim's stamp book (nōkyōchō) for their final journey.

References

References

  1. Reader, Ian. (2005). "Making Pilgrimages: Meaning and Practice in Shikoku". [[University of Hawaii Press]].
  2. Miyata, Taisen. (2006). "The 88 Temples of Shikoku Island, Japan". Koyasan Buddhist Temple, Los Angeles.
  3. Scott, David. (21 February 1999). "Travel:Around Shikoku in 60 days". [[The Independent]].
  4. Miyata, Taisen. (2006). "The 88 Temples of Shikoku Island, Japan". Koyasan Buddhist Temple, Los Angeles.

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