Kidai Shoran (detail) © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Asiatische Kunst (Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin), former collection of Hans-Joachim and Inge Küster, gift of Manfred Bohms 2002, photography: Tadao Kodaira

20Pilgrims

In spite of the heavy restrictions on travel during the Edo period, traveling under the guise of a religious visit to temples and shrines was allowed even for the common people. With the development of highways, pilgrimage travel became popular, and many travel guidebooks, illustrations of the highways, and travelogues were published. During the late Edo period, mass pilgrimages to Ise Jingu were all the rage. Other popular destinations were famous temples and shrines, sacred mountains like Mount Fuji, temples that issued amulets, and pilgrimages to nearby places like Mount Ōyama and the shrine to Benzaiten on the island of Enoshima.