Documentary Films

Walking Pilgrims (Arukihenro)


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by Tommi Mendel
color, 73 min, 2006



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For a great number of people the main motive for undertaking a pilgrimage consists in the journey itself - wandering along a path leading away from the familiar place and at the same time leading towards oneself. This constant quest and the continuous enhancement of the daily experience, in whatsoever form, seem to be a central need of each human being. The roadmovie and documentary Walking Pilgrims (Arukihenro) focuses on this need in relation to the lives of today's Japanese wandering pilgrims. It shows their motives, aims and desires on a very personal level along the 88 Temples' Pilgrimage that circles the Japanese island of Shikoku.

Pilgrimages are a part of a worldwide religious phenomenon and reflect the socio-cultural background from which they arose, as well as inevitable changes over time. The over a thousand year old Shikoku Henro connects 88 predetermined sacred places along a 1400 kilometre long circular route on Japan's fourth largest island, Shikoku. The pilgrimage was born through the holy monk Kobo Daishi (774-835), founder of the Japanese Shingon Buddhism, who is said to have attained enlightenment on his ascetic wanderings throughout Shikoku. Soon after his death, initially priests of the Shingon sect followed his path and from the 17th century on also lay people, after which a pilgrimage route was established through the prefectures of Tokushima, Kochi, Ehime and Kagawa where the pilgrims visit 88 Buddhist Temples.

Despite the increasing secularisation of Japanese society nowadays, the 88 Temples' Pilgrimage has enjoyed great popularity over the last few years. Besides the huge crowds of bus and taxi tours (comprising 99% of all the pilgrims), who rush through the route as quickly as possible, there are still a few walkers who undertake the entire pilgrimage in 40 to 60 days on foot. The personal motives of these pilgrims vary widely as well as their hopes and expectations along the way.

Walking Pilgrims (Arukihenro) was shot during a period of nine months, while the filmmakers themselves hiked along the entire pilgrimage, accompanying different pilgrims through long stages of their journeys. Based on ethnographic survey methods the film highlights the reasons and motivations of today's walking pilgrims, as well as their quest for personal change along the 88 Temples' Pilgrimage. Not only are the experiences of the pilgrims themselves documented, but also impressions and observations from Shikoku residents, priests, and academic experts. Leading from the microcosm of this pilgrimage, Walking Pilgrims (Arukihenro) shows profound insights into the religious and socio-cultural background of Japanese society today and points at the same time to the universal human need for the quest for oneself.

"...Walking Pilgrims (Arukihenro) is an absorbing and intriguing journey into the inner lives of Japanese people today, and is an excellent representation of the complex and contradictory soul of modern Japan." — Peter Matanle, Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies

Visit the filmmaker's website: Tiger Toda Productions

Film Festivals, Screenings, Awards
Bilan du Film Ethnographique, Paris, France, 2007
Worldfilm Festival of Visual Culture, Tartu, Estonia, 2007
NAFA Nordic Anthropological Film Association Festival, Trondheim, Norway, 2007
RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film, Manchester, UK, 2007
Parnu International Documentary Film Festival, Parnu, Estonia, 2007
Mostra International do Filme Etnografico, Rio de Janeiro, Braszil, 2007
International Festival of Ethnological Film, Belgrade, Serbia, 2007
Vidovin Festival of Ethnographic and Documentary Film, Tolmin, Slovenia, 2007
Scientific Film Festival, National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan, 2008
Days of Ethnographic Film, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2008
ETNOFILM Cadca 2008, Cadca, Slovakia
Religion Today - International Festival of Cinema & Religion, Trento, Italy, 2008