I'll be trying to walk the Shikoku Pilgrimage

Another year, another trip to Japan. Yey! And this time it's extra special trip for me as I have been waiting for this trip for close to two years. This time I'll be(trying) to walk the Shikoku pilgrimage! Well at least first half of it. Unfortunately couldn't get enough holidays for the entire plan but I knew from the get-go that 8-9 weeks would be tough to get so I had to settle for about 4 weeks this time and hope to get 5 weeks next year for the (longer) 2nd half. But for this one plane departs on Saturday 25th, arrives early Sunday morning and plan is to start walking on Monday with most of Sunday being spent getting to Tokushima, buying pilgrim gear and settling in to first lodging.

Now bad news first: Not sure how much I will update this during the walk as I won't have laptop with me. Indeed uploading photos isn't really feasible. I will however be taking notes and photographs so I will be writing a lot afterwards.

So what is Shikoku Pilgrimage? To put it simply it's walk around the island of Shikoku, the smallest of four main islands in Japan, passing through 88 temples that claim connection to Japanese priest Kukai, also known posthumously as Kobo Daishi(Great Teacher who spread the Dharma(Buddhist teachings)).

Here's one map(courtesy of shikokuhenrotrail.com).

Complete distance for the walk? 1200 kilometers or so. Except there's also 20 additional temples I'm planning to visit which adds about 200km or so(above temple distance seems to count the additional temples as well as author visited those as well). Whether I can actually walk the whole distance is another thing though! I might very well quit halfway...But plan is to try to reach the temple 39 at the end of Kochi prefecture. This should amount to 640km or so and is convenient place to leave toward Tokyo at the end and make it easy to return to same spot when I would come back. Around temple 38 for example bus is pretty much required...

So who's Kukai and why he's so important? Certainly seems to be rather famous fellow known by name at least by most Japanese. I would equate his fame as similar to Väinämöinen for Finnish people. Even if you aren't well versed on him you know the name. Or Jesus for christians...Kukai basically brought new school/faction of Buddhism from China to Japan, kept opening Buddhism toward common people, helped people in generally(he opened first school in Japan open for anybody regardless of class that even provided lodging if you needed one!) and is credited with n+1 miracles. Also credited with invention of hiragana(one of the writing systems Japanese use) though that's probably false but he IS still considered one of the top-3 masters of calligraphy in Japan.

Short...ah who am I kidding. I can't write shortly so this will be longish biography of Kukai. If you aren't interested you can skip further where I continue with my trip's plans.

Biography of Kukai

 Birth and early youth

 Kukai was born ain 774 in the current Kagawa prefecture near where the temple 75 is(so you can locate that from map above). Son of noble house he certainly had potential for rich life and seemed to show potential in school. However his family fame got a hit when(whether false or not I don't know) they were implicated in assassination of another noble which left the family in some level of disgrace. Then when he was 15 he was sent to Nara to be taught by his uncle(who also taught one of the Emperor's sons...). His family probably banked quite a lot for him to restore the family honor. At the age of 18 he entered state university whose graduates basically have guaranteed job at the court. So he was on track for wealthy life though the assassination thing might have prevented him from archiving highest positions.

In any case at the university he had to study lots of Confucianism that was official state philosophy in the Japan at the time. However in his first year he seems to have met a Buddhist priest and something must have struck as he essentially became student in name only visiting frequently his home island Shikoku.

In fact around this time it is said he performed first time Gumonjihō ritual where you say mantra of Kokūzō Boddhisatva one million times during course of 100 days in the Shikoku. As rules of university didn't allow being out of studies that long this would have resulted him being expelled.

This must have been quite a disappointment  to his family who, rather than see him become court official and hopefully restore family honour, had to watch him become wandering monk without any wealth. 

For next few years he would wander around Shikoku seeking enlightenment. This includes ascetic practices at the top of Mount Tairyuu(where temple #21 is now) and finally at the south of Cape Muroto where current temple #24 is located where he vowed to stay until he succeeded. He would spend three years in small cave until he achieved enlightenment.

However for all that he was not and would not be official priest for quite a few years. At that time Buddhism was tied up with state though there were some friction(capital moved from Nara to current Kyoto to avoid growing influence of priests). Outsiders teaching were not generally looked well though past century or so with En no Gyōja(634-701) and Gyogi(668-748) had been among spearhead so to speak to open Buddhism further. This probably resulted in some trouble for Kukai but based on his writings it's clear that he had been studying writings so he clearly must have been in cities studying Buddhist writings before.

Trip to China

During this time Kukai seems to have ran into crisis in combining book studies and meditative studies. He was told(legend says in a dream) that Mahavairocana suttra(suttra being basically book that has teachings) would have what he sought. However while Japan had copies of the suttra available it had lots he could not understand nor could anybody he could talk. This was because the suttra was part of Esoteric Buddhism not really understood in Japan(or China) being mixed with Exoteric Buddhism. Also it had lots of Sanskrit text(language used in old India). This gave Kukai desire to go to study in China. Note that unlike popular belief this was NOT to go study Esoteric buddhism but rather to learn about this specific suttra. He didn't know it was Esoteric buddhism or what it was.

However going to China wasn't that easy and for unordained(ie not official priest) it wasn't possible. However somehow he got ordained bypassing official requirements somehow and assigned to envoy in the year 804. Some theories say high contacts but might have been simple blind luck he got to this envoy. There had been previous envoy that however had hit into storm and had to return. At the time in those cases priests were believed to have bad luck if they hit into storm so were replaced and Kukai with his by then rudimentary chinese speaking and writing skills(since he had been studying with the goal of going to China) might simply have been convenient choice!

So vowing to stay in China for no less than 20 years he was in first ship out of 4 while ship 2 had another famous priest Saicho. But disaster struct again with yet another storm(travel was not safe at that time...) and ships 3 and 4 were lost. Ship 2 with Saicho got more or less where intended but ship 1 drifted further south but eventually made it.

Took some time but eventually Kukai was allowed into temple to study Buddhism. Learning sanskrit from monk called Prajna(I think) he would eventually get into contact with master Hui-Kuo. Kukai later described their first meeting like this:

Accompanied by Jiming, Tansheng, and several other Dharma masters from the Ximing monastery, I went to visit him [Huiguo] and was granted an audience. As soon as he saw me, the abbot smiled, and said with delight, "since learning of your arrival, I have waited anxiously. How excellent, how excellent that we have met today at last! My life is ending soon, and yet I have no more disciples to whom to transmit the Dharma. Prepare without delay the offerings of incense and flowers for your entry into the abhisheka mandala.

From this it's clear Hui-Kuo was aware of Kukai and had been looking forward to him. Hui-Kuo who would teach him Esoteric Buddhism. Kukai's rate of learning seems to have fast as within year from arriving to Japan he already achieved rank of master of Esoteric Buddhism shortly before Hui-Kuo died.

Return to Japan

But here was new problem for Kukai. He had achieved his goal and Hui-Kuo had asked him to return to Japan quickly to further spread his teachings. But Kukai had vowed to stay for another 19 years...Nevertheless he returned and arriving to Kyushu he sent letter describing what he had learned and what he had brought with him(lots of translated books, many new in Japan, books in original sanskrit, various ritual tools, paintings etc) and why he felt imperative to return.

Despite his learnings and what he had brought Kukai still had broken his promise(and remember his travel was paid by the state which expected to get something in return. It was not charity). Also his claim of bringing new form of Buddhism(Esoteric Buddhism) wasn't met all that joyously. After all Saicho(very famous priest) had already brought it hadn't he? That was the thought. However Saicho had only brought bits and pieces he had incorporated to his Tendai sect. This was however lost as there wasn't real grasp on what Esoteric Buddhism IS. Indeed Esoteric writings had been available for century in Japan and some esoteric deities like Avalokitesvara(Kannon Boddhisatva in Japanese. Incidentally last years Chichibu pilgrimage was in temples dedicated to her...) were widely known by them. But these were thought to be part of the old style of Buddhism. In large because same lack of separation was in China from which Japanese modeled itself heavily!

Exoteric vs Esoteric

So what is Exoteric buddhism and what is Esoteric buddhism? To put it simply(if I can. I don't really understand it myself) exoteric refers to teachings made by the historical Buddha. These teachings are said to come straight to him. These however Esoteric buddhists consider not as the ultimate truth but skillful mean to lead student toward the ultimate truth. Esoteric meanwhile comes from the source, from the Mahavairocana or  Dharmakaya Buddha aka cosmic Buddha. In otherwords cosmic Buddha is the one that taught Buddha how to achieve enlightenment. Buddha then taught those. But why not same teachings? Because esoteric Buddhism is said to be one that cannot fully be taught by words but needs personal experience(meditation being main tool but also incorporates sounds, pictures, gestures etc).

Last year I mentioned Buddhism not having god to believe in and I still stand by it yet above is mention of cosmic Buddha. So who's that if not god? Simply put reality itself. Mahavairocana, rather than being celestial being controlling life and fate is simply the reality itself. From this concept comes this quote from master Hui-Kuo(might not be perfect word to word as I paraphrased this from memory).

If you know your mind as it truly is you know the mind of the Buddha. Furthermore if you know the mind of the Buddha you know the mind of all living beings.

Kukai worked hard trying to get recognition for his new style of Buddhism that he didn't even want to describe as mere "school" like many in Japan. Instead he wanted it to be recognized as third Yana. First two being Hinayana(lesser vehicle, the original) and Mahayana(greater vehicle). This third one would get name Vajrayana. One key difference between the Vajrayana being that while other two states enlightenment requires lots of time(many lifetimes) Vajrayana says it's possible to achieve it within your own lifetime as it already is within you. You just need to dig it out. Still hard but not eons long process. But due to Kukai's desire to separate Esoteric as not just another school it's notable that while currently term "Shingon school"(Shingon being term Kukai used it meaning true word or mantra) is used Kukai only used 4 times term "Shingon school".

Raise to fame

 

Kukai might have been ended up stuck on Kyushu but change of Emperor happened and Emperor Saga came to throne. Unlike previous Emperor he took more interest in Kukai's work and with his love of arts was in writing contact with Kukai regarding calligraphy and I think poetry. Saga's support got him out of Kyushu and allowed him to start working on spreading his new Buddhism. Kukai was also probably seen as useful way for the state to repair their relationships with the temples due to his friendship with the Emperor. Also early alliance with Saicho helped as Saicho wanted to learn more about Esoteric buddhism but differences of opinions would lead to the two becoming more like rivals.

It's interesting to note though that the two while generally having similar goal, that of creating new style of Buddhism separate from that of Nara, the methods were quite different. Kukai was generally the one that was more willing to work with the Nara priests while Saicho tried forcibly to set his own system. This led into serious problems. Kukai meanwhile spread his new style in smaller steps and in fact two notable events in his life, being put in control of Todaiji(temple in Kyoto) and being promoted to quite a high rank(was it even 2nd highest) in Sogo, the insitution governing buddhist priests in Japan. So while there's some "rebellion against Nara Buddhists" idea attached to the Kukai he was actually part of the system.

Rise of his new form of Buddhism however was not particularly fast as evidenced by his letter of propagation in 815 where he asked for help from other priests of copying suttras related to Esoteric buddhism. This contrast a bit compared to commonly held view that with backing of Emperor and Saicho Shingon spread quite fast. It seems it really started to pick some speed on 820's, ie after assigned to Todaiji(822) and Sogo(824).

His final major achievement would probably be Mount Koya temple complex he started(though it would be finished only after his passing) in the Kii mountains. Kukai got permission from Emperor to set up temple complex at the Mount Koya and would spend much of his final years altering between being in the capital and being in Mount Koya to puzzlement of others who thought being in the capital would be preferable to lone mountain and indeed drew some criticism as he could spend months there in meditation refusing all requests even from the Emperor. For example one priest/courtmember(don't recall which) sent following letter:

What pleasure do you find in the mountains? You even became oblivious of returning to our world. A secret scripture and a robe of a hundred shreds. All your belongings there, soaked in the rain clouds. The Harsh sun will soon turn them to dust blown in the wind. For what do you vainly starve yourself to death? No teacher in any disclipine would ever approve you."

To which Kukai replied:

A priest living a solitary life of povertry. I have no family, no nation, no homeland. No one's child, no one's subject, that is who I am. Water scooped from the moonlit valley stream sustains my life. A breath of evening mist returning from the peaks refreshes my spirit. Creepers and blades of glass are my robe. Pine leaves and cedar bark, my bedding. For my night's sleep heavenly gods kindly draw across dusk, it's indigo blue draping. The dragon kings devotedly spread forth white clouds their white curtain. At times mountain birds visit me to sing their songs, joined by monkeys dancing on branches, an entertainment far superior to our own. Smiling, the cherry blossoms in spring and the wild chrysanthemums in fall keep me company. The moonbeams before dawn and the breeze at daybreak wash away dust from my mind.

Here can be see two 

Kukai passed the world 835(common legend says he did not die but entered eternal meditation in which he still works for salvation of others. He is said to have said "when the universum ends, when there are no more beings to be liberated, then will my prayers end" during his final days). In the year 921 he was given his posthumous name Kobo Daishi.

Phew. Above ended up long but still rather superficial biography.

Origins of the pilgrimage

Shikoku Pilgrimage is quite old, said to be about 1200 years old which puts start around the time of Kukai's passing. However exact origins are shrouded in mystery and truth will probably be never known. There are many various legends as to what started. Some common ones:

Emon Saburo

Probably the most famous relating story of rich but greedy merchant near current Matsuyama. One day wandering monk arrived and asked for food but he didn't give. This repeated for 6 more days until on 7th day he got angry and struck the priest causing his bowl to fall and shatter to pieces. Monk left and didn't result but shortly after merchants sons started dying one after another. After last one had died he realized this was retribution for striking the monk and that the monk had been none other than Kukai. Vowing to apologize he started walking in clockwise direction the shikoku. 20 times he walked over it(over 20,000 kilometers!) but didn't find him. He then decided to walk in counter-clockwise direction. Finally approaching current temple #12 he finally collapsed exhausted and was about to die when Kukai appeared. Asking forgiveness he got it. He asked that Kukai would make it so that he would be born in rich family so that he could pay back for his past sins. Kukai agreed and after Emon Saburo had died picked up small stone and wrote to it "Emon Saburo reborn" and put it to his hand when he buried. Some time ago child was born to rich family in the Emon Saburo's birthplace whose hand would not open. Finally priest was called in who got hand open with small stone inside with "Emon Saburo reborn" text in it...Child would later use his inherited wealth for many good deeds.

Emon Saburo's tale is related to two different places, the temple #51 Ishiteji(stone hand temple) which is on where boy is said to have born. There's also statue of Emon and Kukai near temple #12 which I'm looking forward seeing on this trip. Temple #51 is on next trip however.

Another story says Prince Takaoka, rd son of Emperor Heizei who became disclipine of Kukai after leaving court after being expelled from the court.

However it is HIGHLY unlikely any single person can be really credited for the creation. What is known is that quite soon after passing of Kukai priests started walking around Shikoku. After all Kukai had been highly respected and looked after so it would be natural for many priests to emulate him. However those wanderings would be quite different to what modern pilgrimage is. There wasn't 88 temples specified for visits. Likely many just wandered around doing ascetic practices in places said to have connection to the Kukai. Quite possibly places to go were taught by others who had been there, researched by talking with locals or simply go where priest wanted.

This would go on for several centuries and being generally limited to priests only(haven't read of any mention of non-priest doing it before 17th century).

First time anything resembling it's modern version came in the early 17th century. Warring states period was finally over and peace had came to Japan making travel safe again. Furthermore the system where Daimio's would go periodically to the capital(on the principle that if they have to alter their time between home and capital they have less time to conspire against Shogun and more easily watched) so roads were improved. Also farmers started to produce more food than they ate so could actually earn some extra cash. This gave mean and money to do the pilgrimage even for the commoners. However travel beyond one's home village wasn't still looked fondly by the lords. However the pilgrimage, being at least superficially religious practice, was harder to deny so by filling in papers they could get permission to do this pilgrimage said to give you karmic points, ie good luck, wealth and happiness, for those who do it. And give them chance to see larger world. Quite a many pilgrims at that time might have been simply for sightseeing!

Practicalities was harder though(where to go etc) but on the 17th century there was priest who also wrote the very first guide book for the pilgrimage. This obviously made it easier to do as there was more information available. He also set up many of the stones with guide directions that are dotting the route on his _217_ times he walked it. Seems he suffered broken heart over a women and after that basically spent his entire life walking the island.

217 times. About 260400 kilometers. If you walk steady 20km a day pace that takes over 35 years. Oh dear...That's why I said entire life. Assuming that's not exaggerated number that amount on foot requires entire life...

The pilgrimage continued steadily until world war 2 after which pilgrims pretty much stopped visiting as Japan fell into economic disaster so there wasn't surplus time and money required for the pilgrimage. However in late 1950's economy started to recover which started pilgrims to appear slowly again. Then one company at Matsuyama got idea of pilgrims by bus that proved instant hit especially for olders. Rather than expensive, hard and time consuming walk you could visit all the 88 temples in about 2 weeks which is much cheaper than on foot(lodging etc for ~45 days is much more expensive generally than on bus. Unless you camp out all the time of course) and easier to fit to schedule to the japanese people.

By now most of the ~150,000 people who do the pilgrimage in a year is done by bus. Some use bikes, motor bikes or private cars or even public transportation. Very few(estimated now to be few thousands) walk.

However walking got some boost in the 1990's due to health benefit 6-7 week long walk has. And in 2000's it has started to become more popular among foreigners(in '90's or even later it was very unusual to see foreigner there. I can recommend book called Tales of a Summer Henro by Craig McLachlan. Quite interesting book and tells his experiences on the pilgrimage). And this year I'll be joining the foreigners trying to walk it!

Oh and why 88 temples(plus 20 extra)? No-one knows. There's theory that it's number that is sum of japanese belief of unlucky years of men(42), women(33) and children(13) so visiting all temples results in removal of bad luck. And 20 bangai temples because 88+20=108 or the number of kleshash(mental states that cloud the mind and manifest in unwholesome actions. Fear, anger, greed, hatred etc) so by traveling them you purify yourself of each one.

Or it could be simply something so mundane that the 88 temples that ended up being selected(many which were part of smaller mini-pilgrimages like temples 1-10, several temples around temple 75 or 46-51) resulted in total distance that was about doable for farmers in time they could be out of their home in the 17th-18th century!

And back to my trip

 So there. "Short" overview of Kukai and the pilgrimage. That took some space. Sorry! Have been studying for this trip for almost two years so lots of bits and pieces I have picked up.

Anyway as said I won't have time for the entire pilgrimage for this year. As it is before I have to return to Tokyo to meet friends I have just 25 days left. I have made plan of where to go each day and if I can keep it I will start trip to Tokyo on 24th day so I have one day spare in case I need to slow down somewhere(due to lodging not being available or needing rest day). Not much but one has what one has. If I need to slow down further I need to either hope I can get longer holiday next year or split the pilgrimage in 3 parts.

I have made plan that's bit relaxed in the start in part deliberately, in part because that's how lodgings and distances came with. Temple #12(Shosanji, temple of burning mountain) is going to be first major challenge and indeed many say it is hardest part of the entire pilgrimage. I definitely want to devote entire day for it so I needed to plan so that previous day is on the foothills. Distance there is 45km so since that's too much for 1 day it's 2 days and after factoring where possible lodgings are(I'm staying at paid lodgings) resulted in ~24km and ~21km days.

These two days should be fairly similar to what I had in the Chichibu last year. Mostly walking at the suburbs and fairly many temples(7 in first day, 5 on second. Would prefer 6 and 6 but no lodgings in suitable position. If I would stop in the previous option it would be 11km and 34km days instead. Not really good idea). So distance wise not that much but all those temple visits are going to eat some time. Mountain wise there's 1 minor one on each day. Tallest one is the first bangai temple on day 1. That's going to be hardest part of first 2 days I think.

After temple #12 it's to Tokushima proper and then start head toward south. After temple #21 mountain temples are mostly done for a long time and I'll be aiming for Kochi prefecture that will be mostly highway walk with mountains on right, sea on left. This is going to be the part I have been least looking forward. Long long days alongside highway(often abandoned) with few restaurants, few temples and little anything. After leaving temple #23 I will even get first taste of pilgrimage days without any temples as distance between #23 and #24 is about 75km and I have added extra scenic route for it. Though still I need to recheck my plans as I come up with 97km and I don't think it's THAT long detour!

Then it's toward Kochi city, back south toward Ashizuri cape and finally go north toward last temple of Kochi and then back to Tokyo. That's the plan! Let's see how well it stands. Problem being I can't quarantee lodgings unless I book them all up in advance and if I then fail to maintain pace...Expensive cancellation spree!

So. Onward!