Journey from Nara to Norwich
The Nara to Norwich project is an international collaboration exploring many aspects of the changes across Eurasia from around AD 500 onwards when Christianity and Buddhism respectively became established in societies at the edges of the Silk Roads: Britain and Scandanavia in northwest Europe, and Japan and Korea, in northeast Asia.
The origins of Buddhism and Christianity are found in south and west Asia respectively, but both religions spread in the centuries following the deaths of their founders finding new centres of faith in central Asia and southern Europe under the Kushan (1st–3rd centuries AD) and Roman (27 BC–5th century AD) empires. It was from these regions that the religions were then taken further, to the edges of Asia and Europe—to Nara and Norwich.
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Exhibit of the month
Hyecho’s Travels, (往五天竺國傳, Wang Ocheonchukguk Jeon). Bibliothèque nationale de France, Pelliot chinois 3532
Hyecho (혜초/ 慧超), a Buddhist monk from Silla, kept an account of his multi-year, 20,000 km pilgrimage by sea and land to the sacred sites of India and beyond. This 8th century manuscript—往 五 天 竺 國 傳—written in Literary Sinitic (the official written language of China), recounts his journey as far as his return to the borders of China, where it was found.
Learn more about the exhibit.
Recently Released
Project Brochure: Walk of the Norwich to Little Walsingham Pilgrimage Route
We are delighted to announce that the project brochure for our upcoming walk of the pilgrimage route between Norwich to Little Walsingham is now live. From Tuesday 09 to Friday 12 June, we will be walking with a team of experts and members of the public as part of our research theme ‘Pilgrimage and the Anthropocene’. In preparation for the walk, we have created an information pack for attendees including the route, further information about…
Read More Project Brochure: Walk of the Norwich to Little Walsingham Pilgrimage Route
Routes between disciplines: An interdisciplinary approach to pilgrimage research
This week’s post reports on a recent interdepartmental and multidisciplinary workshop held between the project team and colleagues at the University of East Anglia. Working collaboratively and engaging with a broad range of scholars and academics is central to the Nara to Norwich project, and we are very grateful to all those who contributed. On Thursday 19 February, we were delighted to host an interdepartmental workshop with colleagues from across the University to discuss our…
Read More Routes between disciplines: An interdisciplinary approach to pilgrimage research
Bury St Edmunds and King Edmund’s Relics
As part of series of our blog posts on pilgrimage on Walsingham, Professor Katy Cubitt writes on the site of Bury St Edmunds, another focus of pilgrimage in East Anglia. One of the great pilgrim centres of East Anglia, predating the shrine of Walsingham by many centuries, was the Abbey church of Bury St Edmund’s in Suffolk. It housed the relics of the last East Anglian king, Edmund (c.855–869), who was killed by the invading…