The Shikoku Pilgrimage
Wherever you are in Shikoku, you'll seldom be far from Japan's longest and most famous pilgrimage - the pilgrim trail of the Buddhist saint Kobo Daishi , founder of Shingon Buddhism. It takes two months to walk the 1000km between the 88 temples on the route, and plenty of pilgrims, known as henro-san , still complete the journey on foot, though more travel the route by car or on bus tours. It's even possible to do the tour by helicopter. The number of temples represents the 88 evils that, according to Shingon Buddhism, bedevil human life. Henro-san are easy to spot, since they usually dress in traditional short white cotton coats, coloured shoulder bands and broad-rimmed straw hats, and generally clutch rosaries, brass bells and long wooden staffs - for support on the steep ascents to most of the temples. The characters on their robes and staffs translate as "Daishi and I go together". Most pilgrims are well past retirement age, as few young Japanese have the inclination or the vacation time needed for such a pilgrimage. Kobo Daishi (known during his lifetime as Kukai) was born in 774, 30km from Takamatsu. This pious man walked all over the island as an itinerant priest and spent two years in China studying esoteric Buddhism, before apparently gaining enlightenment at Muroto Misaki in Kochi-ken and founding the Shingon (True Word) sect of Buddhism. Shingon was influenced by Central Asian tantric Buddhist traditions and this is reflected in the Shikoku temples, with their often exotic decor and atmosphere. Kukai died on April 22, 835, the exact day he predicted he would. For his achievements, he was posthumously awarded the title Daishi (Great Saint) by the imperial court. Soon after his death, his disciples began a tour around the temples of Shikoku associated with the Daishi, thus establishing the pilgrimage as it is known today. The present-day headquarters of the Shingon sect is Koya-san , in Wakayama-ken and this is the traditional start of the once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage. The first temple visited on Shikoku is Ryozen-ji , near Naruto in Tokushima-ken. Pilgrims then follow a circular route that winds its way clockwise around the island, stopping at all the temples on the way to the 88th temple, Okubo-ji , in Kagawa-ken. Around half the temples allow pilgrims to stay for around Y4000 per person including meals. You'll see many pilgrims dropping coins by the thousands of Buddhas along the way, and they fork out again at the temples, where an official stamp costs around Y300. Several books in English describe the 88-temple hike, including Oliver Statler's classic Japanese Pilgrimage . For some up-to-date details, check out www.mandala.ne.jp/echoes/index.html , created by Don Weiss, the author of Echoes of Incense and a resident of Tokushima.
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