Day 0 Continued Yet Again

In addition to the candles and incense, there are a few other necessities. In fact these other items are the most important in many senses. The two books in the following picture are the heart of the Henro equipment.

The red book on the left is a copy of the chants that are performed at the temple and the orange book is where you receive the stamps and calligraphy from the temple after performing the rites.

This is the red book opened to the pages that contain the beginning of the Heart Sutra. As you can see, it is written in Chinese, but contains hiragana to tell the reader how to pronounce each character. Therefore, what the Pilgrim chants is actually Chinese but spoken as the characters are pronounced in Japanese. The grammar and structure is Chinese and makes no sense in Japanese, but the characters have similar meanings so it is possible to more or less understand. I have had Japanese tell me that they can understand 60% to 80% without having any direct knowledge of Chinese. I bought this one but at two of the temples where I attended services I received copies containing that particular temple's chants, so I have three and they are all different. When I have time, I hope to compare them to get a better understanding of Shingon, but I have a lot of studying to do before making the attempt.

This in the orange book showing the pages for temples #14 and #15. Each temple puts in three red stamps and three columns of calligraphy. The top right stamp gives the temple's number, the middle shows the Buddha or Bodhisatva enshrined in the temple, and the bottom left is the official seal of the temple (like a signature). I can read very little of the calligraphy, but I can tell that the middle column starts with the Sanskrit character for the that temple and then the temple's mantra and the leftmost column shows the name of the temple.

After completing the rites, the Pilgrim goes to the temple office where a priest or nun completes the page for that temple. The Pilgrim pays 300 yen (about US$3.00) at each temple. As there are hundreds of thousands of Pilgrims each year - most arrive by bus - the official 88 temples have a very high income and are thus kept in good condition.

After you pay and get your book back, the priest hands you a slip of paper that contains an image of the enshrined Buddha or Bodhisatva. The picture below shows some representative examples.


There is one more thing that we bought: 100 slips of printed paper called Osamefuda.

These are about 5 inches long. The picture at the top is Kobo Daishi and the writing down the middle is a slogan, ending in dogyo ninin, stating that it is an offering related to the 88 temples. There is a space on the right for the Pilgrim to write the date. On the left the Pilgrim writes his or her name and address. Some versions also have a space for the Pilgrim's age.

Osamefuda are deposited in special boxes at each temple and also are theoretically given to anyone who gives you settai. However, the reality is that people do not want them. If you offer one after they give you settai, they will tell you to deposit it at the next temple. Oh, yes, there are special rest stops for Pilgrims that are run and supported by volunteers. These usually have a box for Osamefuda, but they also have a book where you can write the information and a note of thanks.