A shukubo is a temple lodging in Japan that allows visitors to stay overnight within a Buddhist temple. Originally, these facilities were designed to accommodate only monks and worshippers, but nowadays, in response to declining numbers of monk visitors, most facilities now accept general tourists. Some temples, such as Mount Kōya, have open-air baths with Onsens. They are considered to have been semi-secularized and in many towns are the only accommodations available.
History
Originally shukubo were used by Bhikku and confraternities and later by lay practitioners of shugendo and Mountain worship and played major roles in the development of the latter two.
Networks of shukubo began to develop in Ise, Shima, Toba, and Futami-ura in a decades long construction boom.
Many modern day operators of shukobo are descendants of families that ran shukubo when they were a purely religious matter. Originally they only operated for one Kosha but opening to the general public has substantially increased amounts of people staying at Shukubo.
At the foot of Mount Haguro there were once 336 shukubo all linked to Shugendo.
In the Edo period, visits to temples and shrines became popular, including visits to Ise, Kotohira-gū, and Zenkō-ji. Lodging houses were built at major temples and shrines in each area to accommodate ordinary pilgrims and tourists, forming a kind of tourism business, with specific areas connected to specific lodging houses.
In modern times, some shukubō have been converted into traditional inns and ryokan for tourists who want to experience the atmosphere of a temple stay.
Gallery
See also
Shikoku Pilgrimage
Mount Kōya
Three Mountains of Dewa
Mount Mitake (Tokyo)