In the Spring of 2018, I decided to walk the Shikoku pilgrimage (四国遍路) as the last leg of my year-long sabbatical. By then I had enjoyed a lot of different outdoor adventures. I was still restless, and hiking for the sake of hiking, while pleasant, had taken me as far as it would go from a mental well-being point of view. I wanted to close the year with a little more introspection and reflection.
The pilgrimage took me around 39-days, mostly walking. This is a rough daily account of what transpired on those days, which I wish to write down before the visceral memory fades into the depths of nostalgia. I also plan to assemble some resources later here for the benefit of future pilgrims. If you have any questions in the meantime, do ask!
Journal of a Shikoku Pilgrim Henro.
Prologue: Looking up into a sodium-lit sky
About the Shikoku pilgrimage.
The Shikoku pilgrimage is Japan’s oldest and most famous pilgrimage route. You may hear it referred to by a few other names. Shikoku henro 四国遍路. OHenro-san お遍路さん. The 88 temple pilgrimage 八十八ヶ所巡り. Shikoku Junrei 四国巡礼. Rest assured, they all refer to a 1200km, 1300-year-old route that circumnavigates Shikoku island.
Shikoku is the smallest of Japan’s four main islands. Like the magical Land of Oz in Frank Baum’s classic, Wizard of Oz, Shikoku (literally meaning four countries) is home to four prefectures – Tokushima, Kochi, Ehime and Kagawa. And like the Land of Oz, Shikoku has its own wonderful wizard – the nationally revered 8th-century Buddhist monk, poet, scholar, engineer and all-around cool guy Kūkai (posthumously known as Kōbō-Daishi).
Dotted throughout the rugged landscape are eighty-eight Buddhist temples associated with or are said to be imbued with the presence of Kūkai. It’s said that in his lifetime, he visited or founded all 88 temples, and attained enlightenment through his rambles around the island. And by visiting and paying respects at each of these temples in a continuous circuit, one becomes a pilgrim (or henro), following in the footsteps of the Daishi.
It’s a common sentiment. Indeed, emblazoned on the staff and sedge hat of every pilgrim is the phrase “Dogyo Ninnin”, which translates to two people one practice and refers to the concept of the spirit of Kobo Daishi accompanying and guiding pilgrims on the trail.
And follow they have. It’s estimated that over 150,000 pilgrims travel at least part of the route each year. Of course, it’s changed in the course of centuries. Henro no longer have to trailblaze new paths between temples with machetes. Many modern pilgrims travel by bus, taxi, trains or automobile, but there are still those who travel on bicycle or on foot.
Kūkai: the man and the legend.
Only a skeleton of facts remain about Kūkai the man. He was born in 774 to a well-off family in Tado, a district of Sanuki (now Kagawa). In his youth, he travelled to Nara to study Confucian classics and rhetoric in advance of a court career. However, at some point in his studies, his interest veered off. He began studying Taoism and Mahayana buddhism in addition to Confucianism. But his interest in buddhism took to heart and he would frequent back to Shikoku’s forest and mountains to study and practice meditative asceticism.
In 804 he was part of a diplomatic mission to the Tang Dynasty. There in China, he received instruction from the esoteric Buddhist master Huiguo (惠果). Kūkai made quick progress due to his experiences in Shikoku, and although Huiguo died in the December of 805, he finished transmitting the teachings to Kūkai before passing.
He returned to Japan with these teachings and founded the school of Shingon Buddhism. With the emperor’s permission, he later established a mountain monastic complex on Mount Koya. During his lifetime, he established temples, public schools, and the written kana alphabet. He brought back Chinese culture, sciences, medicine and technologies. He was even tasked with engineering projects such as the reconstruction of Manno pond, a major irrigation work in northern Shikoku. Given the sheer volume of accomplishment Kūkai had attained in his life, it’s easy to see why, in the subsequent centuries, he became known as a bit of a folk hero. Many miraculous deeds and legends have been attributed to him. Indeed, legend has it that he did not die but retired to Mount Koya and entered a state of eternal meditation.
Today, image of Kūkai (aka Kōbō-Daishi, the great teacher) is one of a wandering mendicant priest, wearing a broad bamboo hat, bowl in hand and clutching a staff in the other. His being permeates the route linking the 88-temples. It is said he still travels the henro path, and that pilgrims may meet him at any time on their travels.