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Logbook
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Aki Meguri Shikoku:
The Island of Four Countries |

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October
14th-November 14th, 2001
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Shikoku
is an island of legend. Oh,
it really exists. But as a
friend told me, it seems imbued with mystery.
Every tree, every stone, seems to have a legend attached.
Many of these center on Shikoku’s most famous son, the monk
Kukai who later became known as Kobo Daishi, or “Great Teacher/Saint
Who Spreads Widely the Buddha’s Teaching.” The
Daishi (he is the Daishi among many others) is said to have
established the Pilgrimage to the 88 Temples
of Shikoku. Scholars
dispute it; believers don’t care.
That he lived here is certain; that he traveled extensively, and
practiced religious rigors throughout the island, is also certain.
Whether it was he or his followers (the members of the Buddhist
Shingon sect) somebody established the pilgrimage, securing this
smaller-than-New-Jersey island’s place in World Buddhism.
As
the stories surrounding the pilgrimage developed, the four provinces of
the island each took on an attribute related to the pilgrim’s
progress. These are:
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Tokushima
Prefecture (formerly Awa Province): The Dojo (training room)
of Awakening Faith
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Kochi
Prefecture (formerly Tosa Province): The Dojo of Religious
Discipline
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Ehime
Prefecture (formerly Iyo Province): The Dojo of Enlightenment
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Kagawa
Prefecture (formerly Sanuki Province): The Dojo of Nirvana
In
this age of pilgrimage by train, bus, and car, the significance of this
progression may have been lost. But
friends tell me that recent televisions specials in Japan have centered
on the idea that pilgrims are walking again, in greater numbers all the
time. This is a sign of
hope.
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My
Shikoku background pages consist of the following:
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THE
LOGBOOK:
Where I went, What I saw
Other Logbook Stages: Prelude
Old
Tokaido
Yamato
Postlude
October 14th (Sunday)
October 15th (Monday)
October 16th (Tuesday)
October 17th (Wednesday)
October 18th (Thursday)
October 19th (Friday)
October 20th (Saturday)
October 21st (Sunday)
October 22nd (Monday)
October 23rd (Tuesday)
October 24th (Wednesday)
October 25th (Thursday)
October 26th (Friday)
October 27th (Saturday)
October 28th (Sunday)
October 29th (Monday)
October 30th (Tuesday)
October 31st (Wednesday)
November 1st (Thursday)
November 2nd (Friday)
November 3rd (Saturday)
November 4th (Sunday)
November 5th (Monday)
November 6th (Tuesday)
November 7th (Wednesday)
November 8th (Thursday)
November 9th (Friday)
- The
Route:
Temples 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, Bangai
November 10th (Saturday)
November 11th (Sunday)
November 12th (Monday)
November 13th (Tuesday)
November 14th (Wednesday)
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RESOURCES:
The guidebook I will use
is in Japanese, but the maps are easily understood.
It’s called Shikoku Hachijuhachi Kasho O Aruku, and
it’s by the “Henro Michi Hozon Kyoryoku Kai,” the name of a
pilgrimage group. Other
excellent guidebooks include Ed Readicker-Henderson’s The
Traveler’s Guide to Japanese Pilgrimages (in English) and
Manganji’s green guide (in Japanese), available from Koji Junrei
Company, 9882-1 Tennodai, Choshi-shi, Chiba-ken 175, JAPAN.
This company publishes guides for over 20 other pilgrimages in
Japan; the easiest way to get them is at temple #1 on any particular
route.
Online
guides include those by Jeffrey
Hackler, Akiko
Takemoto and Steve McCarty, David
L. Turkington, and Don Weiss’s Echoes
of Incense (with a resources
page).
The
classic book on Shikoku’s pilgrimage in English is Oliver Statler’s Japanese
Pilgrimage. I’m
almost embarrassed to write about my experiences after reading this
book. A not-so-classic but
entertaining book is Tales
of a Summer Henro by Craig McLachlan.
For
the religious perspective on the pilgrimage, nothing comes close to A
Henro Pilgrimage to the 88 Temples of Shikoku Island Japan by Bishop
Taisen Miyata. He’s a
Shingon Buddhist priest in Los Angeles who first performed the
pilgrimage on foot in 1955. He
has since guided numerous tours of American Buddhists, and the book is
both a devotional guide and a collection of legends about each temple.
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