PILGRIMAGES TO THE ANCIENT TEMPLES IN NARA

Watsuji's Koji Junrei is a book of impressions of a trip Watsuji took with a few of his friends to the city of Nara in 1918, the capital city of ancient Japan, where he saw a number of Buddhist temples. Watsuji was 29 at the time of the trip. By the time he took this trip to Nara, Watsuji had already published influential, groundbreaking books on Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard and the book G z saik (Resurrection of Idols). Koji junrei is significant in that it began a modern literary trend (and commercial publications) of "travel writing" about ancient temples and shrines in Japan and elsewhere. While the genre has existed for centuries, it was Koji junrei that almost singlehandedly resurrected this genre. The book still retains a timeless appeal to the Japanese. Even today some travelers visit Nara temples clutching a copy of Koji junrei, ninety years after its first publication. Richly illustrated, its cultural significance cannot be underestimated.