The Twenty-five Historical Holy Places of St. Honen's Activities and the Osaka-ko

Abstract

In research up to now, it was thought that the twenty-five historical holy places of St. Honen's activities were established and pilgrimage developed only by the effort of the priest Reitaku. However, in Reitaku's own “Guide book to twenty-five historical holy places related to the great master Enko” it is recorded that concerning the choice of the pilgrimage temples and the way of numbering the temples he inevitably followed the suggestion of Osaka-ko. Osaka-ko was a group of pilgrims and their leader was a merchant from Osaka. Osaka-ko donated pictures of St. Honen and pilgrim songs to the temple, published books of pilgrim songs and erected many memorial stones and signposts. In this way, Osaka-ko contributed to the establishment of the twenty-five historical holy places of St. Honen's activities and to the development of this pilgrimage.