Chapter 6 Pilgrimage Day 24

Diary of the White Bush Clover

Day 24 (29 October) Hiraska to Haramachida

At the Yoshida family house they served breakfast at 6 o’clock. I thanked them for their warm hospitality and went back to Jogyo-ji. At the main temple the head priest, Kawade Nisho, in a scarlet reifuku indicating high rank, was chanting a sutra. In front of him was my notebook, which he prayed over. I sat behind him and prayed quietly for the victims of war. Tomorrow I would be in Tōkyō. This would be the last prayer session at a temple on my pilgrimage. Through my prayers I hoped the war dead would rest in peace. After the prayers the priest returned the notebook to me. I told him the story about the events yesterday at the Kōzu coast. The priest said, “That is your Buddha wisdom. It is the result of your pilgrimage.” And he wrote a message in my notebook: “Your hope has been achieved.”

The Yoshida couple also came to the temple and said sayōnara to me. With many thanks to them, I started toward the east. Later I crossed the bridge over the Banyu. When I looked back I could see beautiful Fuji-san under the autumn sky and I could also see Hakone-yama. This experience of crossing the Hakone mountains during a typhoon was the greatest treasure of my life. It had been very difficult but now it was a good memory. I realized how all my experiences become just a memory. Only two days had passed but it already seemed like a long time ago.

The Fuji-san I could see now was on the opposite side of where I had stayed at the Oda family’s house in Fujishi. I had walked all the way around to the far side of the sacred mountain. Once more I started walking. I walked and walked but I could not find any shops. While I was taking a short rest, the long white body of the shinkansen streaked by in a flash. I calculated the time and distance I usually walked in a day. The shinkansen could cover the same distance in just ten minutes. People must think my walk is very silly or pointless, I thought. I am a rare person to make such a journey on foot. But for me this was the first and last chance in my life. Only Buddha could understand my pilgrimage.

After a while I found a shop at Ayase where I could buy bread and milk. The woman who owned the shop looked at me with curiosity. I said I would be in Tōkyō tomorrow and told her the story of my travels. She was another war widow. She was so impressed with my story she refused payment for the food. She also gave me a few tangerines and persimmons. I was very happy that she understood my pilgrimage.

I looked for a ryokan. In the first one, I found a few noisy American soldiers with Japanese girls so I left quickly. This place was really close to Atsugi Army Base, with many soldiers wandering around. I heard that every inn was like this so I decided to go to Enoshima. It might be far from here but I had to go there.

Today was Sunday and most ryokan were closed but I went to a big ryokan and found a room. Even though the town was very crowded with travelers I had a big room all to myself and I could relax. 

Chapter 6 Pilgrimage Day 20

Diary of the White Bush Clover

Day 20 (25 October) Fujishi to Namuzu

Last night we talked about our religion and I heard about their experiences. Oda-san said, “Humans don’t always have good circumstances so we must live the right way. Only then will we succeed.” He was the president of a big company. Every morning and evening he prayed to a statue of the Buddha in his room. I thought his employees must be happy that they had such a good employer.

I looked outside. This place was at the foot of Fuji-san. Even though the weather was cloudy I could see the sacred mountain, covered with snow on top.

Starting out I looked at the map and walked along Route 1 once more. Too much traffic, I hated it. It might be further but I chose a smaller road. A typhoon was coming and the weather was getting worse but it was still good for walking. Later I encountered construction for the new Tomei Expressway, with many dump trucks passing by.

At noon I bought bread and milk in a shop. The owner asked, “Where are you going?”

“I am walking from Kyōto to Tōkyō,” I replied, “praying for the people who died in the war.”

She was surprised to hear I had walked all the way from Kyōto and asked me to sit on a zabuton and talk. She told me, “My brother also died in the war. I don’t always remember him because I’m so busy. You are walking and praying for many people who died in the war, including my brother. I feel sorry that I don’t remember him often so thank you for what you’re doing.”

We told stories about the war and life after the war. She gave me apples and sweets, saying, “Please eat them when you feel hungry. I will pray for my brother and others who died from now on.”

I decided to pray for the woman’s brother at the temple where I would be staying that night. Again I thought of the saying, ichi go ichi e. I have all these memories of meeting with people yet I have only met them one time in my life. I felt I was saying sayōnara to someone I knew very well.

I walked on the beach. I could still see the row of pine trees far in the distance. After awhile I arrived at Hara. This place was on the old Tōkaidō. Pine trees lined the road so people called this Senbonmatsubara, Thousand Pine Trees Row. I walked along this road, looking at the sea blowing in the wind, until I reached Numazu.

I found Monpō-ji easily so I arrived earlier than I had expected. Two priests with many believers welcomed me warmly. Hayashi-san looked after me from my arrival until my departure. I was very happy.

Chapter 6 Pilgrimage Day 19

Diary of the White Bush Clover

Day 19 (24 October) Shimizu to Fujishi

Dawn was late because it was late autumn. In the main room the praying had already started. I sat behind the priest for two hours and prayed with him. My notebook was in front of the Buddha so I felt sure that the many people who died in the war would be happy. I had breakfast and the priest’s wife made a box lunch for me.

I set out along Route 1 to the east. The road became narrow and there was a lot of traffic. The cars drove slowly, filling the air with fumes, and I put a handkerchief over my nose. This road was not good for pedestrians and I felt a little unhappy. I found a small road and turned that way. The air was clear. I looked at the handkerchief. The white cotton had two black holes where my nostrils had been. But then the little road came back to Route 1 and the cars went by slowly like cows.

I arrived at the Oda family house. Looking out the window I could see Fuji-san. The mountain looked like it was right in front of me. I thought they must be happy to live in a place like this. The wife was very kind. I thought of the sutra that says the Buddha changes his body to human form to help people, so that family was the Buddha. I thanked them very much for taking care of me. At night we talked and I had a very nice time with them.

Chapter 6 Pilgrimage Day 15

Diary of the White Bush Clover

Day 15 (20 October) Hamamatsu to Osugachu

At half past 5 o’clock in the morning the prayers had already started in the main room of the temple. The priest and his son said prayers for the people whose names were written in my notebook and for my journey so I thanked them. Half a month had passed since the beginning of my pilgrimage. The end of autumn had come and I felt the cold.

I had breakfast with the priest’s family. I tried to give the priest an offering but he gave it back to me and said, “Money is very important for your journey so it is better that you keep it.” He did not speak much but he was filled with love. I was deeply impressed by him. He worried about where I would go next so he called and arranged for me to call on a family he knew and gave me a map with directions to their house. The priest told the Suzuki family I would visit them at noon and asked them to please prepare lunch.

I took a little bit of a roundabout way because I wanted to see Fuji-san from Enshunada, a beautiful viewpoint. I walked toward Iwata, hoping to reach the Suziki house by noon. At 9:45 I crossed the Tendu-gawa. The river was so wide I could not see the end of the bridge. It took me fifteen minutes to walk across the bridge on the pedestrian walkway. In the middle I stopped and looked down. The water was dark blue and clear. The river was very low with many rapids because there was a dam upstream.

A little before noon I was still walking. I searched for the fire lookout tower in the town but I could not find it. Finally I found the Suzuki house. It was already 1 o’clock. They had prepared a big lunch and waited one hour for me even though they did not know me. I thought it was too much for me alone but I was walking for Buddha so I thanked them and ate. Usually I only had a quick lunch of pastry but today’s lunch was very delicious and I thought my stomach must be very surprised. After I rested for half an hour the kind family saw me off and I continued walking.

There was not much traffic in the city so I could walk easily. On both sides of the river there was a windbreak of pine trees but I could still feel the wind blowing through the trees. Maybe in places like this the heroic Jirocho family, who had helped the poor people, would walk with their shoulders thrust forward, breaking the wind. The road continued, with golden stalks of rice bending their heads on either side. I could see people working in the fields far away, cutting the rice.

A small stone Jizō, the deity who helps children, stood on the side of the road wearing a red baby bib. The name of an eight-year-old girl was carved on this Jizō and there were fresh flowers in front of the statue. Perhaps she had died in a traffic accident. I prayed for her in front of the Jizō.

I did not have a reservation for a ryokan that night and the houses were becoming fewer and farther apart. The sun was already setting and the lights were coming on. I stopped at one house and asked if there was a ryokan nearby. They said there was one in the next town, Yaojin. I had to walk another half hour. I was already tired so I tried to cheer myself up. At last I arrived at the ryokan. I was exhausted. This hotel looked so old I thought perhaps a servant would come with a bucket of water to wash my feet, the way they did in ancient times when people traveled by foot wearing waraji, straw sandals.

I was an unexpected customer but they were very polite and took me to a room. I spoke with the owner of the ryokan, a lady who was nearly seventy years old, telling her about my journey. She told me the story of her son. Before the Great Pacific War, when he was eighteen, he volunteered to go to Manchuria to cultivate the land, which was controlled by the Japanese government at that time. While he was there the war started and he was drafted into the army. He was sent to Siberia and died there. She was crying because she had not been able to take care of her son. Her old face full of sorrow, she said, “His friend told me the reason he might have died in the war. Every night the soldiers drew straws to see who would go out to steal food. One night my son was chosen to go out and did not return so perhaps he was killed by a farmer in the area. The government sent me a white box but there were no bones inside so no one knew how or where he died. He was an unfortunate boy.”

She said, “Please forgive me. It’s very noisy in the next room, but I want to talk to you about my son and my life.” A party was going on but the woman talked until midnight. I wanted to listen to her story all night long.

I said to her, “Your son died for the lives of his fellow soldiers. His sacrifice made him bosatsu, a servant of life. I am sure he is with Buddha now.” I made up a poem for mothers who lost their son in the war and recited it for her.

sen’yu no

kate o motomete

senjyo ni

chirishi sonomi wa

bosatsu narubeshi

In the war

you tried to find food

for your friends

and died on the battleground.

You are a servant of life.

The old woman was very happy. Before, she thought her son’s death had no meaning but now she could think of his death in a new light. Because he died for someone else he was godly. “Thank you very much,” she said.

I too felt happy. I had a wonderful experience in this ryokan.