The Goal of this Boardgame is 𝑬𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 (Japanese e-sugoroku)

Boardgames have been played around the globe since ancient times and the Japanese archipelago is no exception to this.
This video dives into the premodern Japanese game that is now known as "e-sugoroku 絵双六" and all of its colourful variants.

Whilst this popular dice race found prominence during Japan's Edo Period, its history goes back further than one might expect and brings attention to an especially fascinating iteration of the game:

The Buddhist e-sugoroku, that not only turns the game board into a mandala-like piece of devotional art, but also transforms the game's arbitrary goal into a figurative pursuit of Buddhist Enlightenment..


𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗖𝗘𝗦 📚:
Content sources are provided at the very END of the video and correspond to the numbers displayed in the upper right corner of every section.
Image and video sources are provided in the lower left corner of the video (might be cut off on some mobile devices, but are properly displayed on the YouTube Webpage).

00:00–02:06 The Basics of (e)sugoroku
02:07–05:44 The Origins of (e)sugoroku
05:45–06:50 Modern Adaptations
06:51–07:08 Sources

#Japan #japaneseculture #japanesehistory #boardgames