Reflections of a Shikoku Pilgrim

{Shikoku Hachijūhachikasho Meguri}

--WEEK FOUR--

--4/18: Enlightenment & Singing In The Rain--
The first part of the day was pleasant and we had a leisurely walk to the town of Aki. There, we stopped in at the local tourist information office to see if they knew of any folk sites in town. As usual, they didn't, but when we explained the type of stories we were looking for, I.e., related to the Daishi, they told us to wait and called a local expert on all matters related to the Daishi, who agreed to come down and talk to us.

It turns out that the man was a self-taught expert and his ideas were as much his opinions as official teachings. But, he was interesting, even if we didn't really learn much new in what he told us. After he talked to us, though, he offered to take us to a cave the Daishi is said to have done shūgyō in.

After visiting the cave, and Eric getting the story on tape, we headed to his house where he was going to feed us lunch. This was an important part of the experience for him because he had emphasized earlier how the Daishi had taught what now is the standard nutritional paradigm &mash; eat whole grains and a vegetable based diet, and don't eat meat.

We were served brown rice and a variety of mountain vegetables, along with miso soup, all the while listening to his proclamations that he had been enlightened by following this diet. He assured us that if we would do the same, we, too, would be enlightened at some point. I ate as much as my stomach would hold!

After tea and pictures, we were back out the door and finally picked up our packs at the information center at 2:00 pm. As we were getting ready to set out the skies opened up and it started to pour. Not much to say after that point, we walked for well over an hour before throwing in the towel and getting on a bus for the final 8 km to our lodging for the night.

--4/19: Reaching Milestones--
Tom left early in the morning to head to the airport to get back to work. Being a typical minshuku owner, the woman who runs the place where we are staying first offered to drive him to the train station and then changed her mind and said she might as well just drive him to the airport.

After he left Eric and I took our time, finally setting out at our usual time of 7:30. It was a slow day with many breaks, but we reached our goal of finally walking 20 km in one day. I don't think we'll do it very often, but now we know that he can if we need to. In general there is no need to do it because a) Eric doesn't enjoy it and i accept that choice and b) we have 70 days in total to walk so there is no hurry. Walking 20+ km each day may get us to the end too soon.

--4/21: A Half Day Off--
After a half day walk yesterday, we hopped on a train and rode into Kōchi City, where we stayed in a business hotel that would be convenient for getting back to the trail this morning. Before that, though, it was a slow lazy morning because Kōchi Castle didn't open until 9:00 am. If you are ever in the area, this castle is well worth seeing; it's small, but well maintained since being rebuilt about 5 year ago.

After the castle and a mandatory stop for coffee and donuts at Mr. Donuts, we were back on a train at 11 am and heading back to the Henro trail. We only had about 12 km to walk today so we allowed ourselves to lounge around at the first temple we visited. Luckily, Eric was able to collect more information for his work.

When we finally checked in to our lodging tonight, Eric said his feet are really killing him. I just don't know what to do any more. The only thing it can be any more is the fact that his pack is heavy, he's not in shape, and he's not used to walking like this. I intend to continue to keep our daily distance down to 16 km, or less, as often as I can to help alleviate the problem.

Tomorrow starts week four (of ten). Time is flying by entirely too fast!!! Tomorrow afternoon and Saturday morning it is all but guaranteed to rain. :-(
So far, we've only been caught out in the rain once, and it wasn't fun. But, that's the Henro life — accepting and dealing with whatever comes up.

Have spent most nights and early mornings before Eric wakes up reading Osho's commentary on the Heart Sutra and a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita by Venkatesananda. I doubt i'll have them finished before we're through with the walk, but i'm trying.

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