Asia

Gordon: The Japanese language has incorporated a surprising number of English words.  They are generally unrecognizable, however, because Japanese pronunciation splits the consonant combinations with a vowel, adds a vowel at the end, replaces consonants that are difficult to pronounce, makes other random changes, and of course modifies the pronunciation.  For example, “credit card” becomes “kurejittu kaado”.  Words adopted from foreign languages are usually written ...

Gordon:  We are currently staying near Temple 38, at the far southwestern point of Shikoku.  It is a wild and beautiful area, with substantial distances between temples.  The walk from Temple 37 to Temple 38 is 82 kms, the longest stage on the 88 Temple pilgrimage. There are some magnificent beaches in this region, many popular with surfers.  A couple of nights ago we stayed ...

Ruth: Each day we pass through a number of tunnels. Two days ago the daily count reached eight! On the downside they are not very scenic, they don’t always have a sidewalk, and they can be quite loud and scary. Based on my limited experience only about 50% of vehicles are using their headlights in the tunnels, making my reflective clothing useless.  My relationship with ...

  Gordon:  Last night, together with two Japanese cyclists, we slept in a small dormitory.  The notable aspect of this experience was that we were sleeping in beds for only the third time on the trip.  Most of the time we are sleeping on the floor on a thin futon rolled out on tatami mats.  I find it comfortable enough, but in some ways it ...

Ruth: I’m feeling very grateful tonight. We found a  shelter behind a Shinto shrine between Temples 34 and 35. It has a roof, two walls and couches. We asked permission to stay the night and then a local man returned with drinks and grapes for us. We are camping Japanese style. It has been raining heavily today and the prospect of camping out was looking a ...

Ruth: On this pilgrimage each of the four prefectures that we pass through offers a different stage in spiritual development. Tokushima Prefecture is the place of spiritual awakening.  Kōchi Prefecture is the place of ascetic training,  Ehime Prefecture is the place of enlightenment, and Kagawa Prefecture is the place of Nirvana.  We are not broken, we are merely starting to experience the promised asceticism of ...

Ruth: Except for our brief excursions up to the mountain temples, we spend much of our time here in Japan within the tsunami inundation zones. At our guest house two nights ago our host explained in Japanese and charades what to do if the alarm sounds. We must leave from a certain door and basically boot up the hill. It was the only accommodation that ...

Gordon:  Temple 27 is a henro-korogashi temple located near the top of a mountain and accessed by a spur road 3.2 kms in length.  Ruth had been advised that the access road was too steep to cycle, so we both left our baggage at our accommodation at the foot of the mountain and walked up relatively unencumbered.  It was a pleasant walk, past greenhouses growing ...

Gordon:  I recently realized that we have provided no background information regarding the Shikoku pilgrimage.  It is a circuit of the island of Shikoku (the smallest of the four major Japanese islands) with visits to 88 Buddhist temples.  These temples are connected with Kūkai, also known as Kōbō Daishi, the founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism. Kūkai was born on Shikoku in 774.  He ...

The black dots in the water are surfers.  Gordon:  This is our first trip in Japan and we didn’t do sufficient reading in advance, so we truly don’t know much about the country.  To provide some background information we are taking a course in Japanese cultural history through a series of video lectures.  Yesterday we spent part of the rainy afternoon watching a lecture on ...