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四国お遍路

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• Liber 0.37 vel Alea

NEWS!

I'll be spending the first week of June 2009 in Shikoku, walking (mostly) the Tokushima-ken portion of the Shikoku o-henro, the "Dōjō of Awakening Faith". This comprises the first 23 temples out of the 88 which make up the full o-henro. More details here...

On O-Henro in Shikoku (6/1-7/2009)
or
"How to be a Wandering Corpse in the Land of the Dead, and Still Make Friends and Eat Well"

The Shikoku o-henro has been going on in various forms for thousands of years, but has become most closely associated with the 88 (mostly Shingon) temples spread across the four provinces of the island of Shikoku in Southwestern Japan. It is closely associated with the person of Kōbō Daishi, also known as Kūkai, who brought esoteric (or tantric) Buddhism to Japan and who is legendarily associated with both the temples themselves as well as with the many miracle stories related about the o-henro.

I arrived in Tōkyō on Thursday, 28 May 2009, flying out of San Francisco. Took the "Limousine Bus" from Narita to Tōkyō-eki and then the subway to Akihabara. I'd gotten a room in a small business hotel, the Dormy Inn, in Akiba, about a five minute walk from the Electric City exit of Akiba-eki. It was drizzling, and around five in the afternoon, as I lugged my suitcase and backpack to the hotel.

No difficulties with the reservation, got myself checked in. There's a bath house on the top floor, but I'm not sure what the hours are...

Day -3, Tōkyō and Kyotō

Headed out around 9:30 am to Tōkyō-eki and got a ticket for the 10:30 shinkansen to Kyotō. The train ride takes about two and a half hours. Found the ryōkan after a good bit of wandering around, dropped off bags, and did some exploring around Teramachidōri and across the bridge in Gion. I saw an actual geisha (a fair rarity) on the street, but she was a good half a block away by the time I'd gotten my camera out.

Picked up a bell for use during sutra-chanting at a small butsugenten on Teramachi. Visited Takoyakushidō and paid my respects to the octopi.

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Day -2, Kyotō and Ōsaka

Spent the morning doing some goodie-shopping in Kyotō, ordered a t-shirt with Raijin and Fūjin on the back--they're going to custom-print an insho seal on the sleeve and put some bonji on the front and ship it to my hotel in Tōkyō the dat after I return there. Also found a small brush shop which had bokhitsu in a couple of sizes. These ones used actual bristles rather than a felt pad, like my current set, and were accordingly more expensive. I bought the smaller size, around a medium, for around 2600¥...

Took the train from Kyotō-eki to Shin-Osaka...

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Day -1, Ōsaka and Tokushima-shi

Went out in the morning and spent some time around Isshinji, looking at the various shops that were selling o-henro supplies.

The outfit and paraphernalia a dōgyōsha carries is all about death. On o-henro, Shikoku itself, rather than being "Four Countries" (四国) is "The Land of the Dead" (死国). The hakue is white, the color of funeral clothing. While styled like the jacket of a jinbei or samue, the hakue closes right side on top of left. In Asia, clothing is only worn this way when it's worn by a corpse. The kongō-tsue is styled like a Buddhist memorial marker; I've taken pictures of many examples in the graveyards of Kōyasan and Ōsaka. The four-line poem written on the henro-kasa was once written on coffiins.

In effect, the dōgyōsha is (in a way) a sort of a zombie, wandering through the Land of the Dead, wrapped in a shroud, carrying a gravestone and coffin.

Went to Namba-eki on the subway, and bought a combination ticket for a train ride to Wakayamakō and a ferry ride from there to Tokushima-shi. Shoved my bags in some coin lockers in Namba station and got some coffee at the Swissotel until it got late enough to head to the train.

The ride from Osaka to Wakayama is about forty minutes, and you can go straight from the train to the waiting room for the ferry. The ferry ride takes about two hours.

While out having a cigarette as the boat was coming into Tokushima harbor, I got into a conversation with a fellow who lived in Tokushima-shi but had been on business in ŌSaka. I'd missed the last bus to Tokushima-eki, but he offered to share a cab with me, since he lived quite close to the station. As he got out, he paid more than the amount on the meter. My first o-settai!

Checked into the Tokushima Sunroute Hotel, which is right across from the Tokushima station. Should be pretty easy to get a train over to Bandō in the morning...

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Day 1, Tokushima-ken, Temples 1-6

First day out. After a good wash and a soak in the onsen on the top floor of the hotel, I arranged to leave the bulk of my luggage at the Sunroute while I was on the road.

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Anrakuji Shukubō

Day 2, Tokushima-ken, Temples 7-12

More greeking

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Uemura Ryōkan

Day 3, Tokushima-ken, Temples 13-17

More greeking

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Tokushima Sunroute Hoteru

Tokushima ramen at Men-Ō

Day 4, Tokushima-shi, 3Rs (Rest, "Randōrī", Ramen)

Onsen...

Coin laundry

Kizupaawaa-paddo

Tokushima ramen at Inotani

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Tokushima Sunroute Hoteru

Day 5, Tokushima-ken, Temples 18-19

Left my luggage at the Sunroute again, and after getting some coffee at the Tully's and some sandwiches and Skal at the Sunkus, I got a ticket from Tokushima-eki to Awaakaishi-eki, about an hour or so to the South...

Ride to Temple 18 fumoto...

Breakfast with kids, running into Irie-san again...

Walk to temple 19...

Long walk toward temple 20, meeting Akira at Lawson's walking together most of the way to Minshuku Kanekoya, meeting Irie-san again at Kanekoya...

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Minshuku Kanekoya

Day 6, Tokushima-ken, Temples 20-21

Setting off with Tomoko-san...

Walking up the first mountain of the day...

Discouragement followed by getting in over my head...

Down is worse...

An orange in the middle of nowhere...

Up the second mountain of the day... Walking partway with Kobashi-san...

Meeting Irie-san and Kobashi-san at temple 21...

Ropuwei ride...

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Hoteru Washi no Satō

Meeting Kimura-san at dinner...

Day 7, Tokushima-ken, Temples 22-23

Breakfast with Kimura-san...

Taxi to Byōdōji...

Walking to the Aratano station...

Train to Hiwasa...

Temple 23, and the end of the o-henro...

Do-it-yourself soba...

Train back to Tokushima... "Nihongo wa umai!"

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Tokushima Sunroute Hoteru

Day 8, Tokushima-shi, Wakayamakō, Ōsaka, Tōkyō

More greeking

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Hoteru Dormy Inn