Kumano Kodo: My Search For Connections
Getting ready for my first trip to a country I know I will keep going back to
In a few weeks, I will be traveling solo to Japan. Most of my free time in the last 2 months has been spent in researching and travel planning.
The highlight of the trip is going to be trekking the ‘Kumano Kodo’ trail. As per Wikipedia, it’s a series of ancient pilgrimage routes in the Kii peninsula of Japan. I will be following the Nakahechi route and will walk for 2 full days to get to one of the grand shrines: Kumano Hongu Taisha.
As I am reading more about Japanese faiths and religions, I just can’t help drawing parallels between India and Japan. Both cultures have strong foundations in nature worship. There are rich mythologies that have defined the traditions and beliefs of both nation’s inhabitants.
Buddhism, which was founded in India by Gautama Buddha in around 500 BC, reached Japan through China and Korea 1000 years later, resulting in a unique amalgamation of the teachings of Buddha, the Vedic traditions of ancient India, and the indigenous Kami veneration.
In ancient Japan, Kami were understood as the divine forces of nature. They could be elements of landscape with holy powers possessing both good and evil characteristics.
With time, the Shinto religion developed with Kami worship at its center and rituals that influenced all aspects of Japanese life. I have learned that as many as 80% of the present-day Japanese follow some form of Shinto rituals.
For the Hindus of India, the divine manifests in different forms and speaks to each individual in different ways. It’s not uncommon in India to see a Peepal or Bargad tree in the neighborhood that’s believed to have divine powers. Every river, mountain, ocean, sun, moon, and hundreds of stars are revered and respected for the part they play in our sustenance in this world.
A quick Google search brought up names of notable kami deities: The Sun Goddess, The God of Wind, The God of War, The Deity of Wisdom, The God of Sea, The Moon God, and so on. The Japanese names for these gods are unfamiliar to me but the Hindu counterparts are not; Surya, Wayu, Kartikeya, Ganesha…
As I started to get more excited, a thought came to me that made me pause and wonder: Isn’t Animism or a belief in the supernatural universe the most common foundational thread of indigenous people around the world and not just ancient India and ancient Japan?
Surely a topic for another day.
During my upcoming travel to Japan, I am hoping to get deeper insights into Japanese Buddhism and Shinto beliefs. I am also reading more about the vanishing of Buddhism in India sometime in the middle of the first millennium, after more than 1000 years of patronage by notable Indian kings. It's so interesting that the religion that took over the rest of Southeast Asia, has no traces left in the place of its origin.
I guess I was a bit intimidated when I first booked my trip to this remarkable island nation. I thought it to be too ‘foreign’ and unfamiliar. I can’t wait to start my journey and explore the fascinating culture and ways of its people, which are intertwined and entangled with my own birth country in many ways.
