Pilgrims Until We Die: Unending Pilgrimage in Shikoku
Pilgrims Until We Die: Unending Pilgrimage in Shikoku by Ian Reader
English | ISBN: 0197573592, 0197573584 | 264 pages | EPUB | July 1, 2021 | 11 Mb
English | ISBN: 0197573592, 0197573584 | 264 pages | EPUB | July 1, 2021 | 11 Mb
The Shikoku pilgrimage, a 1400 kilometre, eighty-eight temple circuit around Japan's fourth largest island, takes around forty days by foot, or one week by car. Historically, Buddhist ascetics walked it without ceasing, creating a tradition of unending pilgrimage that continues in the present
era, both by pilgrims on foot and by others in cars. Some spend decades walking the pilgrimage, while others drive it repeatedly, completing hundreds of pilgrimage circuits. Most are retired and make the pilgrimage the centre of their post-work lives. Others who work full-time spend their holidays
and weekends as pilgrims. Some have only done the pilgrimage a few times but already imagine themselves as unending pilgrims and intend to do it “until we die”.