Reflections of a Shikoku Pilgrim

One thing is certain — this is not a henro (i.e., pilgrimage), but a research field trip. As an example of that, yesterday morning we hopped on a 9:00 train, rode three hours up to the north side of the island, met a friend, who then drove us an hour west, all in order to have a three hour interview with a priest at a small temple. His prior job was as a professor at Waseda University and he is a leading expert on all things related to the henro trail. After the interview, it was a race against the clock to get back to the train station for the last train of the day back south, which we just barely made. We finally checked into a hotel in Nakamura City at about 9:45 pm.

Today's walk is a little over our 16 km limit for any one day so we'll probably hop on a bus for the first half dozen kilometers, get off, and then walk from there. There's nothing in particular that we want to see, so it is one of those days of just walking and taking breaks. It's beautiful walking weather today; clear skies and 20 C.

We walked through an absolute downpour a few mornings ago. Because we we're right on the coast, the winds were so strong that they snapped Eric's umbrella into two or three pieces. All in all, though, we've been blessed with great weather. For the most part it has been 20 C or less and sunny most of the time.

We should get to the southwestern cape (Ashizuri) early on Sunday morning. Once there, we may spend the day there as there are several things we want to see/do while there.

Getting lodging is proving to be a problem because the national "Golden Week" holiday period has started and everyone is traveling. I took a half hour this morning sitting on the curb by the road and made reservations through Monday. To make those four reservations, I probably called 10 different lodges. I'll make more reservations tomorrow. The vacation period ends late next week and everything should go back to normal then.

Stumbled onto a nice coffee shop on the side of the road 5 km before arriving. It was nothing more than a nice shack with a large wood porch out front for any customers. But, it was playing some very nice Miles Davis on the stereo (iPad, actually), and the coffee was GREAT. The owner is in his upper 20s, and apparently lives a very relaxed life. He roasts his own coffee beans, grinds them by hand for each order, and the scones also on sale we made by him as well. Enjoyed some interesting conversation at the same time and then headed down the road.

It's raining already and is supposed to rain all day tomorrow. We're spending tomorrow on the cape as well as we want to find someone who can take us to, and explain, the "Seven Wonders of Cape Ashizuri." We heard about two of them from the priest we met up in Niihama the other day and they sound like great resources for Eric's movie.

It's hard to believe that we have already walked through the month of April. Could tomorrow really be May 1st?

Tomorrow we begin the walk to Tsukiyama Shrine and then on to Temple 39. We'll get to T39 on Thursday afternoon.

"No one need despair. No one need fear obstacles. With a changed angle of vision the seeker looks upon obstacles as stepping stones. The thing that obstructs our smooth progress along the corridor is not an obstacle, but a step meant to lead us upward and onward!"

That, my friends is the implication behind the Japanese word shūgyō, or religious discipline. The bumps in the road of life are not obstacles, things to stumble over and to swear at. No, they are stepping stones, and the bigger they are, the higher they stick up above your path, the higher you have to step up to get over them, and the higher you have to step up, the higher each one takes you. The ultimate decision with shūgyō, though, is how high do you want to climb? Are you content to see the horizon from a distance or do you want to travel beyond what can been seen? Are you content with the local hills or do you want to scale Mt. Everest? Only you can choose where you want your life to go, what your life stands for. And these answers live in the rarefied air found at the high altitudes of shūgyō.