A journal of my 1,400km pilgrimage on foot around the 88 temples associated with the Buddhist monk Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi) on the island of Shikoku, Japan. April 30 to June 20, 2016.
I’d like to say I slept soundly last night in preparation for the final push but at 3am my neighbour decided to watch TV. After five minutes of listening to the muffled sounds of a sports game, I banged on the wall. Loudly. Not very Buddhist perhaps but it did the trick. Read more
Dark clouds hung from the sky as I set out to conquer the final temple this morning. Usually this would be a cause for concern, but with the end in sight it only emboldened me to walk faster. Read more
With anticipation of the end building, I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night and so it was an effort to drag myself out of bed this morning. Thankfully the sky was looking clear and bright. Read more
After a sound nights sleep at Goshikidai hut I woke with the sunrise to a much-improved weather situation and was feeling good. Read more
Today the weather didn’t seem to be able to make its mind up about whether it was merely depressed or openly crying. Read more
I visited seven temples today (71-77), more than any other day so far. Whilst not all were terribly interesting, there were a few highlights and it’s scary how fast the end seems to be creeping up. Read more
I woke with the sunrise in the curtainless tsuyado at Unpen-ji (雲辺寺 – 66) this morning around 5am. Nobody was around and it was great to wander the mountaintop temple with nothing but the sound of birds singing. Read more
I’m writing this by torchlight tonight from the tsuyado at Unpen-ji (雲辺寺 – 66), the highest mountain temple in Shikoku at 900m. Due to some weird borders I’m technically back in Tokushima Prefecture and will pass into Kagawa, the fourth and final prefecture tomorrow. Read more
Today was a 40km straight shot from Saijō City to Shikoku-chuo City along the concave top of the island via local roads most of the way. The forecast rain never materialised so all-in-all a pretty successful day. Read more