Chapter 6 Pilgrimage Day 6

Diary of the White Bush Clover

Day 6 (11 October) Sekigahara to Ōgaki

The next morning I went to pray at the statue of Kannon. When I left I realized I did not have to pay for my room. The owner allowed me to stay for free and also paid for my breakfast.

I began walking again. After awhile I stopped at a store and used the telephone to call the temple where I was planning to stay that night because I knew the priest would be worried. I told him I was fine, I was walking well. The owner of the store overheard me mentioning the reason for my walk. She began to cry because she lost her younger brother in the war and she had not thought about him in a long time. The store owner said that even though she had forgotten about her brother a long time ago, someone she did not know could walk and pray for her brother. She was very moved by that. The woman gave me some milk and some money. I asked for her younger brother’s name and told the woman I would use the money at the next temple to pray for him. I wrote his name in my notebook and left.

While I was walking I passed a milestone that was placed there by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who became the first shogun of Japan in 1600. I thought abut the Tokugawa family, who ruled until 1867 when the shogunate was overthrown and the newly enthroned emperor began the Meiji reign. The Edo period under the Tokugawa was a long era of peace marked by sakoku, national seclusion. Some of my ancestors were connected with the Tokugawa.

Soon I arrived at Ōgaki, a river port with docks for small boats. Ōgaki was the last place the haikai poet Bashō stopped before he took a boat back home at the end of his travels all around Japan. I felt glad to visit the small historical park at Ōgaki with a memorial monument dedicated to Bashō, who lived from 1644 to 1694. Some of his poems were carved on stones and both the stones and the monument were lit up. As I walked around reading the poems, I reflected on Bashō’s travels.

Close to that park was the temple where I planned to stay. The head priest came to welcome me with a smile. When he saw me he said, “Oh, Goto-san, you are in jakko.” I was surprised to hear him say I was in heaven because I was not dead. He explained that there are two kinds of paradise. One is where you go when you die and the other is heaven on earth. You can still be in heaven while you are alive if you are surrounded by satori, peace and contentment. Because I was walking for peace, not making any money for myself, it was like I was already in paradise. I learned something new from the priest because I did not know about the two kinds of heaven. The priest apologized that the temple was too small for anyone to stay in so he had arranged for me to stay in a local ryōkan, which he paid for.