Day 0 Continued again

After exploring the rest of the grounds of Temple #2, Ian and I went to the store and purchased our Henro equipment. You have seen this picture before in relation to settai, but here please focus on the counter in front of the woman. She is wrapping the things that I purchased.

Although it is possible to spend a lot of money and buy many items, the clerks suggested that we buy the minimum - a hat, a walking stick, a bag, candles, incense, and a book in which we could collect the calligraphy from each temple.
Actually we waited and bought our hats at Temple #1 the next day, but they are all basically the same. At the bottom (which is actually the front of the hat) there is a Sanskrit character, the same one that is on the bag and which I discussed in a previous entry. At the back in Japanese, it says dogyo ninin (meaning: two walking together), just as on the bag. The other sections have slogans, which I will not discuss here.
To get a sense of the length of this walking stick, look back at the first picture. You can see it leaning against the counter. The main purpose of the cover is to allow you to distinguish your stick from those of others when you leave them in the designated place in the temple or at your hotel. The covers range from very ornate to very simple; mine is one of the simplest. Some people use only the stick without any cover. The bell's main purpose is to help you concentrate on walking, rather than daydreaming. I thought that I was going to learn to hate the constant ringing, but found that it became a constant companion and now, when I walk around Sendai, I miss the pleasant tinkling. The bell also serves as a warning to wild animals that there is a human walking through the woods. Apparently there are bears in the mountains. Again there is Sanskrit and Japanese. The Japanese is like a prayer and contains dogyo ninin at the end.
I have discussed the bag before so I will simply post the picture to remind you of it.
The candles and incense are used during the rites at each temple. Before chanting the Heart Sutra, the Pilgrim lights a candle and places it in a special glassed-in box and then lights three sticks of incense and places them in a special container that is like a large bowl. I have included the pen at the bottom to give you an idea of the size.

I will describe the remainder of the items we bought in my next post.