Supported by the Japan Foundation, Saitama Prefectural University, and the George Greenia Fellowship, PhD candidate Joe Decker spent the past year conducting immersive ethnographic research along the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage routes in rural Wakayama. His dissertation explores how the overlapping of global pilgrimage culture is transforming local economies through what he terms pilgro-tourism. Decker walked over 500 kilometers across all four Kumano Kodo routes, conducted more than 200 interviews with Japanese and international walkers, shrine priests, guides, business owners, and local residents, and participated in local festivals. He also volunteered at a guesthouse in Kawayu Onsen for two months and worked at the Hongū World Heritage Center, helping Dual Pilgrims register and guiding them to Hongū Taisha using the time to learn about their motivations and experiences. A highlight of his fieldwork was a two-week, 250-kilometer walking pilgrimage from Kyoto to Hongū Taisha alongside Yamada Yoshinori, president of the Nakahechi Kataribe Guide Association—an event covered in both local and national news, including the Asahi Shimbun. Decker will wrap up his research in the coming months and remain in Japan next year while writing his dissertation.
The College of Arts