Shukubo
{{Short description|Japanese Buddhist lodging}}
File:Hagurosan_Syukubo_2006.jpg]]
File:Yakuouji-syukubou薬王寺宿坊1034743.jpg, the 23rd sacred site of The 88 sacred sites of Shikoku.]]
A shukubo {{Nihongo|2=宿坊}} is a temple lodging in Japan that allows visitors to stay overnight within a Buddhist temple.{{Cite journal |last=Earhart |first=H. Byron |date=1968 |title=The Celebration of "Haru-Yama" (Spring Mountain): An Example of Folk Religious Practices in Contemporary Japan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1177798 |journal=Asian Folklore Studies |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=1–24 |doi=10.2307/1177798|jstor=1177798 |url-access=subscription }} Originally, these facilities were designed to accommodate only monks and worshippers, but nowadays, in response to declining numbers of monk visitors, most facilities accept general tourists. Some temples, such as the ones in Mount Kōya, have open-air baths with onsen. Shukubo are now considered semi-secularized and in many towns are the only accommodations available.{{cite book | last1=Reader |first1=Ian |chapter=Turning to Tourism in a Time of Crisis?: Buddhist Temples and Pilgrimage Promotion in Secular(ized) Japan |title=Buddhist Tourism in Asia |editor-first1=Courtney |editor-last1=Bruntz |editor-first2=Brooke |editor-last2=Schedneck |publisher=University of Hawai’i Press |year=2020 |pages=161–80 |doi=10.2307/j.ctvgs09c4.13|s2cid=216255881 }}
History
Originally, shukubo were used by bhikku and confraternities,{{Failed verification|date=January 2024|reason=No mention of bhikku; cofraternities not described as original users.}} and later by lay practitioners of Shugendō and mountain worship, and played major roles in the development of the latter two.{{cite book | last1=Kaminishi |first1=I. |year=2006 |chapter=Deciphering Mountain Worship |title=Explaining Pictures: Buddhist Propaganda and Etoki Storytelling in Japan |pages=165–192 |publisher=University of Hawai’i Press |jstor=j.ctvvmxpt.12|isbn=9780824826970 }} At the foot of Mount Haguro there were once 336 shukubo all linked to Shugendō.{{cite journal |last1=Earhart |first1=H. B. |year=1965 |title=Four Ritual Periods of Haguro Shugendō in Northeastern Japan |journal=History of Religions |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=93–113 |doi=10.1086/462516 |jstor=1061805|s2cid=161091933 }}
Networks of shukubo began{{When|date=January 2024}} to develop in Ise, Shima, Toba, and Futami-ura in a decades long construction boom.{{cite book | last1=Andreeva |first1=A. |year=2017 |chapter=From Ise to Miwa and Beyond |title=Assembling Shinto: Buddhist Approaches to Kami Worship in Medieval Japan |volume=396 |pages=175–214 |publisher=Harvard University Asia Center |doi=10.2307/j.ctv47w8vp.12 |jstor=j.ctv47w8vp.12 |isbn=9781684175710}}
In the Edo period, visits to temples and shrines became popular, including visits to Ise, Kotohira-gū, and Zenkō-ji. Lodging houses were built at major temples and shrines in each area to accommodate ordinary pilgrims and tourists, forming a kind of tourism business, with specific areas connected to specific lodging houses.
In modern times, some shukubo have been converted into traditional inns and ryokan for tourists who want to experience the atmosphere of a temple.{{cite web |last=デジタル大辞泉,世界大百科事典内言及 |title=宿坊(シュクボウ)とは？ 意味や使い方 |url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%AE%BF%E5%9D%8A-528310 |access-date=2023-01-19 |website=コトバンク |language=ja}}{{Failed verification|date=January 2024}} Many modern-day operators of shukobo are descendants of families that ran shukubo when they were a purely religious matter. Originally, they only operated for one kosha but opening to the general public has substantially increased amounts of people staying at shukubo.{{cite journal |last1=Carter |first1=C. |year=2018 |title=Power Spots and the Charged Landscape of Shinto |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=145–174 |doi=10.18874/jjrs.45.1.2018.145-173 |jstor=26854474|s2cid=165172176 |doi-access=free }}
Gallery
File:Sakura-honbo Yoshino Nara01n4272.jpg|Sakuramotobō
File:Saikan2.jpg|Shōjin ryōri at Hagurosan Saikan
File:Saikan3.jpg|Hagurosan Saikan Room
File:Saikan4.jpg|Inside the Hagurosan Saikan lodging house (corridor and rooms)