At the southernmost point of Shikoku, the Temple of Everlasting Happiness is 38th of the 88 temples that make up the Shikoku Henro trail.Bow respectfully at the temple gate. Cleanse hands and mouth at the fountain. Sound the bell. Leave a name slip with your wish in the main hall, light a candle and three sticks of incense, toss coins in the offering box, and chant sutras. Get your pilgrimage book stamped. Exit the gate, and bow again. Follow the red markers to the next temple.
“Buddhism is more a way of life than a religion that tells you what you can or can’t do,” said David Moreton, a Shikoku-based researcher specializing in the Henro. “However, showing respect is important.”saw a record 446,000 pilgrims last year. The Henro sees a fraction of that. Nevertheless, the numbers of walkers and foreign visitors seem to be rising.The circular route crosses all four prefectures of Shikoku, Japan’s fourth largest island.
The four-mile section from Temple 20 to Temple 21 was lined with cathedral-high cypress, cedar, and bamboo. Rope-garlanded boulders, the embodiment of deities, kept us company, as did vermilion-bibbed stone statuettes, calledwhich are guardians of children and travelers. Kukai, also called Kobo Daishi, was here too, personified in the pilgrim’s walking staff inscribed with words that translate to “traveling together.
At the Temple of the Great Dragon , a part of which dates from the 12th century, it was easy to see why so many religions built their altars atop mountains. In his writings, Kukai claimed to have climbed to the hilltop aerie and chanted mantras a million times. Despite Shingon Buddhism’s opacity, at its core is this: that everything is part of a cosmic whole and that enlightenment can be achieved by ordinary people.
“It’s a living thing,” he said, holding up permanently blue hands. “I have to feel it.” The finished textiles are fashioned into exquisite kimonos.On the Henro, gifts come in all forms, not least of which is the chance to connect with people still tied to the land, still bound to artistry and traditions long abandoned in other places. “People have been doing what I do for a thousand years,” Yano said. “I stand in the middle, between the past and the future.
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