My Journey, The 88 Temples in Shikoku

I am Daniel Spaid.  In my first year of high school I went to Kawachinagano as an exchange student from Carmel.  Because I enjoyed that experience so much I returned to Japan again this past year to study abroad as a university student.  After I had completed my study abroad I had some time remaining, so I walked the 88 temple pilgremage in Shikoku.

“Why are you walking the pilgramage?”  I was asked this question an untold number of times.  But I don't know now any better than I did when I took my first step.  But one thing I do know for sure, that it was a great experience.  I got to meet lots of people, see gorgeous scenery, learn about Japanese culture, and practice my skills in the Japanese language.  Because of my experience with Boy Scouts when I was younger, I decided that I would be ok hiking and camping out in Shikoku.

May 29th, I left Osaka.  Backpack and sleeping bag on my back I got on the bus at the number 2 bus stop at Kansai airport.  At 12:00 I arrived in front of Tokushima station.  From there I took another bus to Ryozenji, the first temple.  There I bought my sugegasa, staff, and other items necessary for the trip.  I started walking.  It is a fairly easy walk to temple 10, however because the nokyosho closes at 5:00 I only made it to temple 5.  I ate at an okonomiyaki restaurant in the area, and the lady working there gave me some useful information.  Just 10 minutes west of the restaurant was a zenkonyado I could stay at for the night.  That night myself and 2 other young Japanese men stayed in that small 4 tsubo zenkonyado.

The rest of my days were for the most part similar to that.  On the third day I overcame the first mountain in the trek, but I did not see the place I intended to stop so I ended up walking over 40 kilometers to the next good stopping point.  However, there were occasions such as when I wanted to go to Dogo Onsen that I walked as few as 13 kilometers in a day.  Overall my average was about 30 kilometers per day.  That may have been fast compared to other henro.


Speaking of other henro, I met a fair number of them.  However it was rare that I would meet the same person more than once.  Therefore I decided to make ichigoichie my motto for the trip.  However, there was one female henro who was also camping out that I met many times.  We ended up staying at the same temple tsuyado in Kochi ken one night, and for about the next 2 weeks we ended up stopping in the same place almost every day.  But it wasn't just in Shikoku, we met by chance one final time at Mount Koya.  That was truly a surprise.

In the end when I returned once again to Ryozenji I thought to myself, “I think I wouldn't mind going around one more time.”

Daniel Spaid