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.

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.

Day 0 Continued

We walked a bit deeper into the temple grounds and found the entrance to the main shrine buildings. As we walked up this path, we noticed on the right two statues.
There was a sign saying that a statue was a Japanese national treasure, but it was unclear which statue was being referred to. I believe it was one of these two, but I am not sure which, although I suspect that it is the one in the bottom picture. They were both extremely impressive. However, the statue in the bottom picture is very popular, as can be seen from the wear and tear on the donations box below it. Artistically, it has a much larger scale composition and includes more figures.

Day 0

Starting with this entry, I am going to go through the days of my Pilgrimage one at a time and post new photos (and maybe some you have seen before) and write more extensively about my experiences.

March 1st, which I am calling Day 0 so that the walking days will begin with Day 1, began early. I was up before 4 a.m. and Masayo drove me to Sendai station, arriving about 5:20. Ian arrived and we boarded the 6:04 Shinkansen to Tokyo where we changed to a train to Osaka. Arriving in Osaka at 11:26 we found, as expected, Keeko-san waiting on the platform. She is a grade school friend of my daughter Naomi and as a youngster spent a huge amount of time in my apartment. If it had not been for Kee-chan, we would still be in Osaka. The bus depot was on the 5th floor of a hotel that was connect to the station and not well marked. With her help, we found the station and purchased our reserved tickets. Then we went out to eat. We could not find anything outside the station and, since time was getting short, reentered the station and at in one of the restaurants there. We all had katsu sando with fries. A katsu sando is a piece of pork that has been fried in batter and with finely sliced cabbage and a spicy sause made into a sandwich. Fries, of course, are good old french fries. Returning to the bus depot, we said good bye to Keeko and boarded the bus

Once settled into our assigned seats, I noticed a sign that proudly announced that we were on a "footbus". What is a footbus? I have googled it and found the term but still can not distinguish between a regular bus and a foot bus. After a couple of hours of watching the scenery go by, we arrived at the rest area called Narito Nishi Bus Stop and, grabbing our backpacks, got off the bus.

We walked a couple of kilometers to reach Gokurakuji, the temple where we were spending the night. After checkin, we decided to explore the grounds since it was still early and we would be in a hurry the next day when we passed through the temple on our Pilgrimage.

This is the building that contained our room and a garden in front of it. As we continued a bit further from our building, we arrived at the roofed place for washing your hands. Every temple has one of these near the entrance and one of the first acts that a Pilgrim performs is to wash his or her hands.
On the right you can see towels for drying your hands and under the roof there is a fountain, providing constant fresh water.
This is a close up of the dragon on the roof. I believe the dragons symbolically protect the site from evil, but I am sure that it is more complicated than that.
Another dragon. The water for handwashing comes from the mouth of the dragon and almost all of the temples had such a set up. I took pictures of many of them, so you will be able to compare dragons. There are also scoops with long handles for dipping up some water to pour on your hands. The act is mainly symbolic so what you really do is pour water over your hands, rather that wash them - no soap or other cleanser is used.
Proceeding further in the the temple grounds we found a bell tower, another thing of importance to the Henro.

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