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 ...
Ruth: I am determined to be as polite as I can be in Japan, but slipper etiquette continues to trip me up. At a minimum there are three different types of slippers at our lodging each night, and one place had five! Yes, that’s right, five. There were the hallway slippers, the outside slippers, the bathroom slippers, the concrete floor before the bathroom stall slippers, ...
Ruth: I have it easier than all the other henros on the route. Well, perhaps not the ones in the tour buses. I am sitting in my camp chair at a high viewpoint overlooking the mountains and the sea, waiting for Gordon to catch up. Lots of time to finish up my painting of a turtle. We stayed in Hiwasa last night, and although the ...
Gordon: Yesterday I finished my walk at Temple 21. Located at the top of a mountain, it is known as the “Western Kōya-san” because of its similarity to the UNESCO designated monastic community near Ōsaka. It is possibly the most beautiful temple we have visited, with magnificent cedars and numerous temples constructed at various levels along a ridge. After our visit to the temple we ...
Ruth: Each morning we put on our white jackets and become two of the many Henros (pilgrims) making their way to the temples. Most henros are Japanese, who primarily make the journey by car or by tour bus. We are part of the pulse of those walking the route. Like the Camino, we are often meeting some of the same people at the temples and ...
Ruth: It’s strange to be on day five and be exactly where we started: in downtown Tokushima. The first 17 temples are in and around Tokushima, so we have slowly been circling around the surrounding foothills. It seems important to write something about what not to pack for the Shikoku pilgrimage. My friend Mary told me in advance that I wouldn’t need to bring much ...
Ruth: Today might just be my favourite birthday and it isn’t even noon yet. Not the manic, hyper-happy of some birthdays when I was young, but a warm contentment and wonder as I slowly pedal through beautiful mountain scenery between temple 12 and 13. Word of my birthday got out early at temple 12, where I was given a birthday present from a Japanese henro ...