Shirakawa’s Repeated Pilgrimages to Kumano

Retired Emperor Shirakawa first made the journey from Kyoto to Kumano in 1090. His second visit came in 1116, after a gap of twenty-six years; thereafter he returned frequently, making nine pilgrimages in all by 1128, the year before his death. The journeys brought his devotional household from the court to the shrines of the Kii mountains.

The visits joined religious patronage to provincial officeholding. On the fourth pilgrimage, the governor of Suruga, Fujiwara no Yukisuke, undertook to repair the fire-damaged Shingū shrine in return for reappointment. The governor of Noto, Fujiwara no Motoyori, made a corresponding commitment at Hongū. Shrine repairs could thus be supported through an exchange involving a governor’s next term, alongside the lodging, provisions and reception required by a royal party.

On his final three pilgrimages Shirakawa traveled with his grandson Toba and Taikenmonin, Toba’s consort. Such visits connected court households to Kumano’s religious communities and the officials serving them. The roads and markers preserved today also reflect subsequent pilgrimage, rebuilding and maintenance; they do not record every stopping place of Shirakawa’s nine journeys.