Pillgrimage in the spotlight of Culturological research: Analysis of Camino de Santiago and Shikoku Henro pilgrimage

In 2010 almost 272.000 pilgrims completed Camino de Santiago. Even though, it was just about 5.000 pilgrims 20years ago. Why? Thats the fundamental question and main theme of this diploma work. Seeking the answers, we need to specify cultural pattern of Camino de Santiago. As the topic is quite wide the analysis needs to be done on several theoretical levels. First of all, we are going to take a look at the dimension of pilgrimage throughout the human history. We will follow its evolution from nomad way of life to todays phenomenon of independent travelling. The character of modern nomad will be also defined. The aim of the second part is to interpret human relation to sceneries and paths, human ability to structurize the space we live in and a short contemplation about the art of walking. Third part is about the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. Major routes to Santiago de Compostela are described at this part, focusing on their cultural environment, historical context and landscape disposals. After that I will present the results of a small research I did about Camino de Santiago. In last chapter there will be short introduction to the Japan biggest pilgrimage : Shikoku Henro. And then I will compare both of them using key elements of each. Methodology mainly consists of reviewing relevant..