Aki Meguri: History

Aki Meguri

History

The other sections of the Aki Meguri pages (the Old Tokaido, the Yamato, and the Shikoku) document the actual journey. This History section gives background on the event itself.

First, there is the "Prospectus," the pages I published before the journey both to let my friends know what I was up to and to raise funds for the journey.

Next, in "To Be a Pilgrim," I discuss the mechanics of the pilgrimage, including my prayer routine, a summary table of the places I said my prayers each day, and another table of where I stayed each night.

Then, in the "Archives," I preserve two sets of pages: one that records the final few days before the trip (including a misfire), and another that tells what I was doing immediately after the trip.

Finally, "Connected Japan" is about the vision I had for my old homepage--before it was stolen and taken over by a porn site! Many of the ideas foretold there have yet to be manifested in future pages of The Temple Guy.

This version of Aki Meguri has several differences from the original:

The old Aki Meguri homepage was written on the road, as it was happening. While I have tried here to keep that "you are there" felling, I have also attempted to streamline the narrative a bit. For example, I often spent time writing about what I "hoped to do tomorrow"--and then explaining why it didn't happen. Most of these misfires have been removed.
Since that trip, I have had over three years of continued learning, including completion of the major coursework for a PhD in Buddhism. My accounts of what I saw then have now been "enlightened" by what I have learned since. Not to mention the benefits of having the leisure to look things up from my home, instead of sitting on a mountaintop somewhere with a wireless internet connection!
The pages have been reorganized extensively. One notable example is the "Journal Entries" reflecting my thoughts and feelings about what I was seeing. The have now been incorporated into the "Logbook" entries for that day, instead of being on separate pages.
Also, the material pertinent only to the mechanics of my trip are here in this History section; the other three sections have both the background materials on their areas and the accounts of my experiences there.
Links have been added at the bottom of each Logbook entry to make it easier to navigate from one day to the next.
Brief summaries on the top pages of each section have been added, making it easier to find places and events.
Several separate indices, such as the "Words and Pictures" pages and the "Journal Entries" have been added.
Page layouts are slightly more sophisticated; picture thumbnails are larger and more suitably placed.
Wherever possible, old links to outside resources have been updated.