Ian Reader is a scholar of Japanese religion, and this academic book, published by Routledge, examines contemporary pilgrimage, including Japanese pilgrimage traditions such as the Shikoku circuit, through the lens of its commercial and economic dimensions, arguing that pilgrimage's marketplace of souvenirs, transport and tourism has always been part of the practice rather than a modern corruption of it. Its strength is treating pilgrimage's commercial side as a legitimate subject of serious study rather than dismissing it as inauthentic, backed by Reader's long standing fieldwork on Japanese pilgrimage specifically. Its limit is that while it draws comparative examples from beyond Japan, its deepest evidentiary base is Japanese pilgrimage, so claims about other pilgrimage traditions' commercial history are best checked against sources focused on that tradition.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Ian Reader's scholarly study of the commercialization and marketplace dynamics of modern pilgrimage, comparing routes including the Shikoku Eighty-Eight Temple Pilgrimage with various Christian pilgrimage routes; a study of pilgrimage as an economic phenomenon, not a source for the religious or historical content of any one route. NotesIan Reader's scholarly study of the commercialization and marketplace dynamics of modern pilgrimage, drawing comparatively on pilgrimage routes including the Shikoku Eighty-Eight Temple Pilgrimage and various Christian pilgrimage routes. Use for established scholarly facts about the modern commercial and touristic dimension of these pilgrimage routes; a comparative study of pilgrimage as an economic phenomenon, not a source for the religious or historical content of any one route, which needs a source focused on that route's tradition.
Citation
AuthorIan Reader
PublisherRoutledge
Publication Year2014
Source Typebook
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Japan directly: "Ian Reader is a scholar of Japanese religion, and this academic book, published by Routledge, examines contemporary pilgrimage, including Japanese pilgrimage traditions such as the Shikoku circuit..."
Claims Backed By This Source (70 claims)
This source backs 70 claims across the atlas. As facts: 45 well-attested. As cited relationships: 13 holds. Plus 12 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Pilgrimage Routes, 37 claims: 26 well-attested, 5 holds, 6 general references.
- Articles, 15 claims: 12 well-attested, 1 holds, 2 general references.
- Sacred Sites, 10 claims: 6 holds, 4 general references.
- Sources, 8 claims: 7 well-attested, 1 holds.
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