{Shikoku Hachijūhachikasho Meguri}

--Thoughts during the weeks prior to starting--

Of course, i'm still reading. Devouring might be the more appropriate word in this case. Just when i think i've read all i can, i find a new book. Last week my Japanese teacher brought over another great guidebook of the trip that someone she knows had given her to pass on to me. It's in Japanese and is intended for someone driving, but the maps are great and the explanation of each temple is good so i think i'll take it with me as well.

Mentally, though, i still have one fear that just will not go away. That is the fear that i am really going to have to struggle to find lodging each night. Oh, i don't doubt that i'll find something, but is it going to have to be fairly expensive because i couldn't get a room in the normal minshuku and ryokan that cater to henro? I have heard and read numerous times that a lot of the minshuku owners are afraid to let rooms to foreigners.

I'm not bilingual but i speak far more than enough Japanese to get by. I love Japanese food and can use chopsticks well. I know how to use and love the Japanese ofuro. I find a futon a perfectly comfortable place to sleep. But, they don't know all of that just by talking to me on the phone and immediately fear the worst. The immediate fear is that i don't know and can't do any of the above and, therefore, will upset their routine and/or cause problems. Which means the answer may frequently be "Gomen nasai keredomo akibeya wa arimasen." Most likely, when i've been told no in other towns on previous trips it has been because of the same fear.

My teacher continually tells me kore wa sabetsu ja nai yo, and that it is just a fear driven by their lack of experience with foreigners. And i accept and truly believe that that is the truth. But, i know it is going to be incredibly frustrating for me to deal with. And i have to admit that i find it a little ironic that many of these owners will probably claim to truly believe the phrase "Dôgyô Ninin," and yet still refuse me a room. If they refuse me, then guess who else they are refusing. Oh well, such is life.

In the end, though, i really have no expectations for this trip. As i have told others, i am neither searching for anything nor hoping for anything in particular. But i am leaving myself open to the possibility of learning quite a bit. Quite a bit about myself, quite a bit about Mr. Daishi, and especially quite a bit about Shikoku and its culture and people.

I'm looking forward simply to walking one step after the other for about two full months. I'm going into this with the honest belief that as long as i have a room to sleep in each night i'll be content for circumstances to come as they may. All i hope and expect is that i am able to complete the journey. But, i fear that part about getting a room......

--3/8: Two and a half weeks before leaving--
One of the more astounding things i have found since i began preparations for this trip is the high interest level in the Shikoku Pilgrimage worldwide. Once i was certain that i intended to go, one of the first things i did was to put up my web page dedicated to it. Since that time, i have received messages from people here in the United States, Europe, Hawaii, Canada, and Japan - all either telling me that they have already walked it or that they had the hope of doing so sometime in the future.

In fact, one Westerner (living in Osaka) told me that he is walking bits and pieces of the trail over various long weekends throughout the spring and wondered if we could walk together at some point. I thought i agreed, but haven't heard from him since. If you're out there, i lost your address when my computer crashed so if you are still interested, you'll have to send me another message. Or, you'll just have to find me on the trail. I'll be following the trail laid out by Miyazaki-san in his Shikoku Henro Hitori Aruki Dôgyô Ninin. Gomennasai, shitsurei shimashita.

Also to my surprise, i recently received a message from the owner of a minshuku somewhere near Temple 82. Now that i have publicly bared my fears about lodging, he sets out to prove those baseless by telling me i am welcome at his minshuku. I hope my schedule works out so that i can spend the night at Miyukiso with him and his wife. Arigatou gozaimasu, Fujimoto-san.

The last technical preparation i have left to make is to get an internet account with GOL, the ISP in Tôkyô. I'll be using their services, i hope, to upload, update, and store these pages while i'm actually on Shikoku. That way, for access, i only have to make a telephone call to Hiroshima to upload the files and i don't have to call all the way back to the university here in Chicago. They have a great deal with what they call their Superlite Account that will only cost 500 Yen/month.

What else have i been told? Well, i'm told that the seafood in Kôchi-ken is delicious, and that the Soba (or was that Udon?) in Kagawa-ken is outstanding. I've been told that i should be sure to take the time to see the cave near Temple 24 where Kôbô Daishi meditated and to be sure to see Konpira Shrine near Takamatsu.

But, what i am looking forward to most of all are the people of Shikoku. I love meeting new people. I love learning about their way of life and their way of looking at life. I love learning to understand what makes them tick. And why they tick the way they do. I love comparing notes and exchanging stories about life's experiences with people of cultures different from the one i was raised in here in the US. And, in return, i'm sure i will be prodded for this same information about me while on this trip. As a henro, and especially as a gaijin henro, i have the impression that people will be asking me a lot of questions. Demo ki o tsukete Shikoku. Boku mo takusan no shitsumon ga arimasu! Watashi wa Shikoku ni tsuite mo Shikoku no hitobito ni tsuite mo mada wakarimasen node, i am coming to learn about you. I am coming with an empty notebook in my head and the hope that i can bring it back home full of information about the island, the people, the pilgrimage, and those like Kôbô Daishi, Gyôgi Bosatsu, and En no Gyôja, to mention only a few.

--3/24: One day before leaving--
Finally i can say that the day has arrived! I leave tomorrow morning bright and early. I take a flight to Detroit and then transfer to a one o'clock (or so) flight direct to the new Kansai International Airport off the coast of Osaka.

I'm so excited that it is hard to sleep at night. Which, by the way, i find somewhat amusing. I haven't had this happen to me in a good, good many years. I go to Japan each year so that alone isn't doing it, and i have been hiking and backpacking for as long as i can remember so that shouldn't cause it either. But, there is something about this trip, this combination of destination, mode of transportation while there, reason for going, and specialness of the pilgrimage. There is something in this cocktail that has more adrenaline flowing through my veins than there has been in many a year.

The interesting question then is how long will this adrenaline rush last? On those days when it is cold and raining, when the wind is blowing from the front and directly in my face, when my pack seems to weigh ten extra pounds because of all the water on it,... will the adrenaline still be flowing then? Will i still be able to whistle a happy tune and understand how lucky i am to be out on the trail walking? Will i still be able to appreciate life? Or will the adrenaline rush have long since past and the only thought that will come to mind is "This stinks!"

If you read much about the hikers that hike long distances like the Appalation Trail on the east coast of the US, you always read that there is a wall that magically appears around five or six weeks into the hike. When you hit that wall you want nothing more in the world than a good enough excuse so that you can drop the rest of your trip without everyone else telling you that you are a bozo. A reason good enough to justify the unjustifiable. Getting through that wall is tough, in fact it is very difficult, or so they say. It takes grit, it takes determination, it takes a lot of mental willpower. But, once through that wall, the rest of the trip is relatively easy. It will be interesting to see what i experience throughout the trip. I don't anticipate this happening to me, but imagine everyone says that as they set off on day one. I have hiked for up to a month on previous occasions and know that walking every day, day in and day out, rain or shine, cold or hot, tired or not,... can be grueling and tiring. All i can say now is Gambarimasu!

What will help on those bad days, though, is the fact that i know i am walking with a lot of friends. No, not friends that are actually there on the trail with me, but friends in spirit. As i said before, i have talked, in person and through e-mail, to a lot of people since i started planning this trip. People who have offered advice, wished me luck, told me they have already walked the trip, or that they hope to do so in the future. Each of them has given me a lot to think about and i will carry those thoughts with me around the island. I thank each and every one of you for getting in touch.

So, where do i stand. I leave tomorrow morning and arrive in Wakayama on Friday evening. I'll spend Saturday on Mt. Kôya and on Sunday take the train and ferry over to Tokushima and Naruto. On Sunday afternoon, i hope to buy my hakui and walking stick and then just walk around town before settling in at the minshuku for the night. Then, on Monday morning next week, i start out from Temple One. Let me say that again since that made my spine tingle - On Monday morning next week, i start out from Temple One. :-)

I still have no idea how often i will find a telephone jack to plug my laptop into. That means i still have no idea how often i will be able to update these journals. Only time will tell. Just keep your fingers crossed.

If you live on the island, and happen to see a gaijin walking through town, please introduce yourself since that gaijin may be me. I look forward to meeting you. For the rest of you, i'll see you online sometime this weekend.

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