Sacred stamps & calligraphy

in Japan

Collecting Goshuin

During my Buddhist pilgrimage in Japan I had to collect my first goshuin!
Goshuin are the sacred stamps and calligraphy from each temple, that are collected in a special booklet, the goshuincho. Each one is a piece of art in itself. Below some pictures of the very first calligraphy that I collected in it, made by the monk in the video, in the holiest Buddhist temple, the main temple in the pilgrim village of Koyasan, on top of a mountain.

Here you see the monk writing the sacred calligraphy of his temple (that you see above) in my goshuin book:

The goshuincho is a ‘harmonica’ booklet. You can’t use just any booklet, it has to be one that is especially for this purpose.
You can buy them in pilgrim shops, and also in Buddhist temples (that’s where I bought mine, in the very same temple as where the monk made the calligraphy)

In this trip to Japan I collected about 15 calligraphies, and I will absolutely bring my stamp book on my next trip to Japan to collect further!