Sunday, October 25, 2009

Shikoku 7th Day

Well, internet services have been sporadic at best on Shikoku, and it is usually found in hotels that require you to plug into their LAN service with a CAT 15 cable...so much for the legendary Japanese advanced technology. Of course, anyone with any understanding of how the Japanese mind works won't think much about this paradox. On the one hand the country has the most advanced toilets in the world...but on the other, they also have one of the crudest sewage systems as well. I don't think Rome during Julius Caesar's time had the same, shall we say "ambiance", as modern day Japanese countryside.

On our arrival in Japan, I realized what an undertaking this was going to be when faced with the prospects of spending 16 days with members mixed in with complete strangers. Just when you thought you had seen it all, believe me you haven't.

The first day proved how daunting this entire journey was going to be. While visiting each of these temples has become less of a epic journey that may very well have you tumbling off the side of a mountain trail, it is no less dangerous. The possibility of being tossed over a roadway with no guardrails into a ravine a good thousand feet deep is very real. And this scenario played itself over several temples that required us to leave our gigantic tour bus behind to board individual cabs and microbuses to shuttle us up winding, VERY winding trails up to these temples on the mountain tops. Every time our little microbus filled with our overfed Hawaiian bodies would come across another vehicle on our one lane trail, it would stop and each driver would then wait each other out until one reversed down the road (or up) until they could pull over the side and allow the other vehicle to pass. Visions of Travel Channel's episode, "The World's Deadliest Highway" kept popping into my head. Speaking of our tour bus, imagine if you will a Robert's Hawaii tour bus...then magnify the thing by 25%, then you sort of get how big the tour bus we are on is. So we have this young driver, really, really young, and he drives like his age. This is not to say he isn't a good driver, on the contrary, he is fantastic. I don't know how he can pull to the side of what I would laughingly call a road, to allow a little NisHondaToyoSuzuki pass us with barely six inches between the edge of the gigantic tires of his charge and the shoga field on either side of the road. I really imagined that the road would give way under the weight of our leviathan.
The adventure did not reserve itself to conveyances with four wheels alone. No sirree! We also had to get aboard a ropeway car. If you don't know what this is, think of what we would call in the states a cable car. This one goes over TWO mountain peaks and has the alarming tendency to rock back and forth after mounting each of the two towers that connect point a to point b over these mountain peaks. To make matters worse? The floor of the car has a grate that is three feet by three feet and open to the air. So you can look down as you rock to and fro, dangling from a line stretched taut. Of course finding out that several persons in your group are afraid of heights (yourself being secretly one of them) just makes for a fun situation.
There are so many other things I have to cover. For instance, the food. Presentation is fantastic, and the amount of fresh seafood available on Shikoku is astounding. While I do not eat raw fish, or shellfish, I cannot deny that the meals were beautiful to look at and a seafood lover's paradise. Our tour guide who happens to be the grandson of former Bishop of our temple Uyehara, made it a point to change our menus when he found out that I didn't eat seafood, despite my urges for him not to make accommodations on my behalf. I explained that I was not on this pilgrimage to eat and be entertained, but he resolutely refused and made the changes anyway saying that I shouldn't have to worry about what I am going to have for my meals. So while I thought this would be a great opportunity to lose some weight, I face the very real prospect that I may have actually gained some because of the prodigious amounts of pork, beef, and chicken that have been ordered on my behalf. Well to be truthful, on many different peoples behalf, because you would be surprised how many people actually don't like seafood that are from Hawaii!
The first day of our journey actually happened to have a memorable moment as we were allowed to perform the okyo on the daishi-do altar of the third temple. To say this was a "chicken skin" moment is an understatement. It was quite an honor to be asked, as well as having our members pass to offer incense in front of the newly restored statue of Kobo Daishi. There is a lot more to tell, but I need to get some rest. I have been told by our guide that the first temple on our list for tomorrow also happens to be the most difficult temple of the entire pilgrimage! Given the kind of temples that we have already had to suffer through, it makes me scared to think of what this "difficult" temple is like!

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