Echoes of Incense A Pilgrimage in Japan by Don Weiss

Resources for Doing the Pilgrimage

There are four basic ways to do the pilgrimage, on foot, by bicycle, by private motor vehicle, or on a tour. Various bus and taxi companies can arrange a tour by taxi, minibus, or bus. Shikoku 88 Temples Pilgrimage by Niki Ichiro contains ads for some of these companies. It is also an excellent guidebook for anyone doing the pilgrimage by car, motorbike, or bicycle. It can be ordered from Karamusu Publishing Company, Hiraoka 826, Takarada-cho, Anan-shi, Tokushima-ken, Japan.

Shikoku is an excellent place to tour Japan by bicycle. Before I walked the pilgrimage, I traveled about half the route by bicycle. If you want to travel this way, you should have a bike with some very low gears -- many of the roads on Shikoku are very steep, especially the roads leading to some of the mountain temples.

If you choose to walk, you should be prepared with some experience on long walks lasting at least a few days. Be prepared to travel with few things in your pack and without hurrying. I took six and a half weeks when I walked alone in the winter. Some people have covered the route in half that time but many take much longer.

The most pleasant times to do the pilgrimage are spring and fall. June is the rainy season in Japan, it often rains on more than twenty days in June. July and August are very hot and humid. September is often nice, but it is also the month when typhoons are most common. Winter, as you know from this book, can be cold and some inns and temple shukubo are closed. On the other hand, the inns are almost never full in the winter.

Foreigners who want to walk should speak some Japanese, should be able to read signs and maps, and should be prepared to occasionally meet people who do not want to welcome you to their inn because they are afraid you will be unhappy, rude, or both.

There are four excellent books in English that foreigners should read to prepare for the pilgrimage:

• Japanese Pilgrimage by Oliver Statler, William Morrow and Co., 1983, available as a paperback from Tuttle.

• A Henro Pilgrimage Guide To The 88 Temples Of Shikoku Island, Japan by Rev. Taisen Miyata, M.A., 1984. -- A guidebook to the temples and the routine of prayer for the pilgrim. You can order it (cost US $25.00) from Bishop Taisen Miyata, 342 East First St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.

• Kukai, Major Works, by Hakeda Yoshito S. Columbia University Press, 1972. This includes a biography of Kobo Daishi and translations of several of his most important works including his Commentary on the Heart Sutra.

• Shingon, Japanese Esoteric Buddhism by Yamasaki Taiko, Shambala Books, 1988.

If you plan to walk the pilgrimage, you should send for "SHIKOKU JAPAN 88 Route Guide" which you can order online from Amazon. It has detailed maps in English with all the information a walking pilgrim needs to stay on the route and find places to eat and sleep, plus good, basic information about the pilgrimage temples.

For maps with even more detail, though in Japanese, you can get Visiting the Historical Places Relating to Kukai -- Shikoku Pilgrimage, Two Traveling Together by Association to Preserve the Henro Route. It's in two volumes, a map book and a commentary. The map book costs 2,500 yen. The volume of commentary is 1000 yen. Their website also lists an English map book for 1760 yen. That's actually the "SHIKOKU JAPAN 88 Route Guide" mentioned above. The information in that book is in some ways less complete but more up-to-date than what is found in the Japanese version. It does, however, give very useful information for those who want to use buses to access some of the temples, information missing from the Japanese map book. The latter is designed for at walking pilgrims.

To order the English route guide from them, send $22 US or 15 Euros to
 
Henro Michi Hozon Kyoryoku Kai
Hibarigaoka 5-15, Matsushima-shi
Ehime-ken, 791, Japan.

The Japanese map book can be ordered by sending an email to shikoku88@iyohenro.jp and asking how much it will cost to ship to your address. The cost is 22 Euros or $29 US plus shipping. Information for ordering the map book from within Japan is here.

You can buy the pilgrim's clothing, name slips, stamp book, etc., at many of the temples, including at Koyasan and at Temple One. For some idea of the cost of these items and other costs of doing the pilgrimage, look here.

Most pilgrims like to visit Koyasan before starting on their pilgrimage, after completing it, or both. Koyasan is less than two hours from Osaka and Kyoto by express train and funicular railway. Many temples there have shukubo. Several, such as Haryoin, welcome foreign visitors.

There are many other web pages with information about the pilgrimage and Shingon Buddhism. The following sites have useful information in English:

Published by Don Weiss (henrodon@gmail.com) -- All rights reserved. You may read this electronic copy on the web or print it out for private reading but no part may be sold or included in any work for sale except for short excerpts used for review purposes.All photographs and maps are likewise copyrighted and may not be reproduced without permission except for private, non-commercial use. Updated 22 October, 2010.