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Paper short abstract

The paper discusses key aspects of Sanjōnishi Sanetaka’s pilgrimage as recorded in the "Kōya sankei nikki", focusing on its religious dimension, his networks of provincial contacts, and the role of poetry in shaping the cultural and sacred landscape of late Muromachi Japan.

Paper long abstract

During the turmoil and political instability of the late Muromachi period, Sanjōnishi Sanetaka (1455–1537) — a high-ranking court aristocrat, esteemed poet, and prominent scholar and promoter of Japan’s classical literary heritage — emerged as a go-between for the imperial court and the shogunate. He enjoyed the trust of a remarkably broad spectrum of society, from artistic elites and successive emperors’ circles to the samurai class and the Buddhist clergy. His "Kōya sankei nikki" (Diary of a Pilgrimage to Mount Kōya) is not just an account of his 1524 pilgrimage to the principal center of the Shingon Buddhist tradition, but a detailed record of a multi-stage journey through a number of other sites of religious and cultural significance in the provinces of Settsu, Izumi, and Kii, with the stay on Mount Kōya serving as the culmination of the entire itinerary — Sanetaka had a particularly important reason for reaching Kūkai’s mausoleum there. The diary further illustrates the connections Sanetaka maintained with provincial figures. At the same time, it serves as a medium that preserves poetic compositions, demonstrating the interweaving of the sacred sphere with poetic practice, the significance of poetry in religious life, and the mapping of a route through places that have been the spiritual heart of Japan for centuries. The aim of this paper is to introduce Sanetaka's travel diary and to discuss several key aspects of his journey.