A Book of Memories: Goshuincho

January 29, 2022 6:33 AM

If you've been to a temple or shrine in Japan, chances are you've seen people lining up with small, colorful books. These goshuincho (御朱印帳) are for collecting goshuin (御朱印) - red stamps with calligraphy written over the top as a record of your visit. Goshuin should not be confused with stamp rallies or commemorative stamps found at many train stations and tourist sites - while they are increasingly popular for their variety and beauty, originally goshuin were given as proof that a religious pilgrim had copied sutras. But it's still considered polite to follow a few protocols before you receive one.

Goshuincho can be purchased from many bookstores or at most temples and shrines, and cover designs range from plain wood (Ise Shrine) to famous artwork (Kenninji Temple, Subashiri Sengen Shrine) to constellations (Sumiyoshi Shrine in Fukuoka), famous samurai (Tamon-ji Temple, Reimei Jinja Shrine), video games (Sanada-jinja Shrine in Nagano), airplanes (Tokorosawashinmei-sha Shrine), and more (Japanese only, but lots of pictures).

As varied as goshuincho are, the goshuin themselves are even more so. Along with traditional (Kurokami Shrine) ones, you can find cut paper (Mizudou-susano'o Shrine), pop-up (Kingoryu Shrine), seasonal (Amagasaki Ebisu Shrine), or ones commemorating special events (Sukunahiko Shrine) and celebrating festivals (Mizudou-susano'o Shrine). And that's just a start.

If you've filled your goshuincho up with stamps from all the temples and shrines nearby, or if you're looking for a challenge, you could complete the 88 temples of the Shikoku Pilgrimage. If that's too many, consider the Saikoku Kannon Pilgrimage, Chichibu Kannon Pilgrimage, or the Bando Kannon Pilgrimage (collectively the Japan 100 Kannon Pilgrimage). And if you're looking for something a bit rare, each yamaboko float for Kyoto's Gion Matsuri festival has its own goshuin (Japanese only, mostly pictures) to collect.

posted by emmling (12 comments total)

Fascinating! This is really neat! Thanks!
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:48 AM on January 29, 2022

Interesting! And pretty! Western Europe had a somewhat similar custom of affixing badges to pilgrims' walking sticks.
posted by praemunire at 7:40 AM on January 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

I love this post! A couple Christmases ago, my wife got me a book about Tokyo temples that offer P. My Japanese is awful, but it's a fun book to flip through and imagine which seals I might collect someday.

Japanese pilgrimage routes are fascinating. I think I'd like to try the Shikoku 88, which (like other pilgrimages) can be done on foot, but is often done by bus or car these days. Paul Barach wrote an entertaining book on the subject called Fighting Monks and Burning Mountains.

Time to go look at more seals and seal books!
posted by heteronym at 7:42 AM on January 29, 2022 [3 favorites]

Western Europe had a somewhat similar custom of affixing badges to pilgrims' walking sticks.

Much like the goshuincho, this tradition lives on to this day. It's not uncommon to see an older hiker with a walking stick covered in medallions.

Thanks for the OP, it's delightful.
posted by entity447b at 8:22 AM on January 29, 2022

(That sentence in my post should read "A couple Christmases ago, my wife got me a book about Tokyo temples that offer 御朱印."
posted by heteronym at 9:01 AM on January 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

Western Europe had a somewhat similar custom of affixing badges to pilgrims' walking sticks.

If you do a serious run of the Camino de Santiago, you're supposed to collect a booklet ("credencial") and have it stamped when you arrive to each stage. It's supposed to date back to the Middle Ages although obviously not exactly like the modern version.

(There are people who have made both the Kumano Kodo and Santiago pilgrimages)

Since most temples and shrines in Japan are free to visit, I always try to buy some ofuda or souvenir from the office because they really can use the money. Goshuincho and goshuin are more expensive and so a better way of supporting a shrine/temple, but I've always been too intimidated to buy one and honestly I don't think my Japanese is good enough to be able to ask for one respectfully. I still carry a blank notebook for the souvenir stamps from museums and train stations, of course.
posted by sukeban at 9:58 AM on January 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

I nabbed one of these when I was in Japan! It’s quite pretty, but I'm keeping track of the paper where I wrote down which shrine each stamp came from with my dear life.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:18 PM on January 29, 2022

Whenever I came across these, in temple, shrine or train station, I'd place the stamp in my travel logbook. One of my favorite is Ponyo, from a promotion in the Tokyo subway when that film was new.

Speaking of walking sticks, I understand that no climb of Mt. Fuji is complete without the purchase of one of these and then getting a complete set of stamps (or brands) on it, as you make your ascent.

Thanks for this fascinating, detailed FPP emmling!
posted by Rash at 12:44 PM on January 29, 2022

I have two or three of these, and each one has maybe one or two stamps. I haven't really made a conscious effort to keep up with it, but I'd buy one on a trip where we'd be seeing different temples and shrines, and start to fill it up, then forget to bring it on the next trip. I'd buy another, get a couple more stamps, rinse, repeat.

It's a shame, though, because there is something quite wonderful about the whole process, from figuring out where in the complex to get the stamp, to asking for it, to watching the traditional calligraphy being put to the paper. It *is* a special moment, each time.

Years back, NHK was running a short series, maybe ten or fifteen minutes per episode, of a husband and wife making the Shikoku pilgrimage, and the sort of tour guide/mentor that was leading them around the circuit. He had made the circuit a dozen or so times, using the same goshuincho. At each station of the circuit, he would get the temple or shrine's goshuin printed again, over the top of the last time he'd been there. The layering effect was quite stunning, and it was beautiful to see a physical object that held such a profound record of a personal history. Doing the circuit used to be a vague "I want to do that someday" kind of thing, but here I am, all these years later, still never having made it to Shikoku.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:30 PM on January 29, 2022 [4 favorites]

I love collecting goshuin - I started in 2016 and completely filled five goshuincho by the time the pandemic started - not hard to do when you take one everywhere and make it part of any trips you take. Since the pandemic it's been slow going, and I'm still on the same book from 2020.

One of my favorite goshuincho designs is this cute shinsengumi one I got at a history museum in Kyoto. Another is the one I bought at Goryo Jinja Shrine in Nara that has images of its lion-dog statues on the cover.

Now I only go out for specific, special goshuin, like the Olympics one from Shinno-san (Sukunahiko Shrine) in the post. But even with those I've been limiting myself, as many shrines and temples will make monthly, seasonal, and special event goshuin on a regular basis. Shinno-san in particular is well known for this in Osaka, like this set from when the Emperor was enthroned in 2019, or these for Girls' Day. Amagasaki Ebisu Shrine also regularly has really cute goshuin, but it's a bit farther away so I'm not as tempted to go all the time.

Anyway, I've been gathering links for this post off and on for a long time, but really pushed myself into making it after this question on AskMe and the Hike, stamp, repeat post from a few days ago. And special thanks go to Ghidorah for checking over my initial draft and offering advice.
posted by emmling at 8:01 PM on January 29, 2022 [9 favorites]

I have the Fuji stick with the stations branded into it.

I didn’t want my stick to get dirty so I carried it without touching the ground the whole way up and down.
posted by The Monster at the End of this Thread at 1:51 PM on January 30, 2022

Thanks for the post! It reminded me I've really been slacking on my own collection. My (first and only) goshuincho is roughly 20-30% filled, but I did manage to grab a couple the first day of work after the New Year while trading in my old charms. It's been a while since I've been hiking, but I always take mine with me to get stamped at the local shrines.

I really want to fill up my current book so I can grab a new one I saw recently with fat little crows on the front, but maybe I should just buy it anyway and save for later. ...Might go after work, actually.
posted by lesser weasel at 11:00 PM on January 30, 2022 [3 favorites]