Invited Paper: Augmenting Pilgrimage with AI: Walking the Kumano Kodō Iseji with a Digital Companion
Abstract
Can a pilgrimage feel sacred when walking it alongside an artificial intelligence? In early 2025, we set out with a custom-built AI companion to walk the 170km Kumano Kodō Iseji route, exploring how digital tools might reshape one of Japan’s oldest pilgrimage paths. Rather than replacing the traditional experience, the AI deepened it by providing real-time translations, historical context, and even companionship during long stretches of remote trail. This field reflection explores how AI, when thoughtfully programmed and intentionally used, can augment sacred travel without diminishing its meaning. Walking with AI allowed us to engage more fully with the layered histories, myths, and ecological realities of the Iseji, transforming the pilgrimage into a richer encounter with place.
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Recommended Citation
Arnold, Wayne E. and Shultz, John A.
(2025)
"Invited Paper: Augmenting Pilgrimage with AI: Walking the Kumano Kodō Iseji with a Digital Companion,"
International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage:
Vol. 13:
Iss.
1, Article 2.
Available at:
https://arrow.tudublin.ie/ijrtp/vol13/iss1/2