On Thursday, April 7th, 2016 at 7:00 pm in Weitz 236, Bardwell Smith, Asian Studies and Religion Professor Emeritus at Carleton College, will share stories of his experiences walking the Shikoku Pilgrimage route in sections on seven occasions between 1983 and 2002.
The Shikoku Pilgrimage is a multisite pilgrimage of 88 temples associated with the Buddhist monk Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi) on the island of Shikoku, Japan. A popular and distinctive feature of the island’s cultural landscape, and with a long history, large numbers of pilgrims — known as henro (遍路) — still undertake the journey for a variety of reasons, including for tourism, asceticism, and piety. The pilgrimage is traditionally completed on foot, but modern pilgrims use cars, taxis, buses, bicycles, or motorcycles. The standard walking course is approximately 1,200 kilometers, or 750 miles long and can take anywhere from 30 to 60 days to complete.
In addition to the 88 “official” temples of the pilgrimage, there are over 20 bangai — temples not considered part of the official 88. To complete the pilgrimage, it is not necessary to visit the temples in order; in some cases it is even considered lucky to travel in reverse order. The henro are often recognizable by their white clothing, sedge hats, and kongō-zue (walking sticks).