Chapter 6 Pilgrimage Day 13

Diary of the White Bush Clover

Day 13 (18 October) Toyohashi to Kanzan-ji

After praying over my notebook, the priest, his wife and his mother came to the temple gate to see me off. The priest’s mother was a nun. She gave me a mawata, a fluffy square silk cloth to drape across one’s back to keep warm. She said, “You will feel cold when you cross over Hakone-yama. This is very light and compact.” Ama-san looked like my grandmother so I was very glad and thankful for her gift.

It would take me ten days to get to Hakone-yama. Hakone is not one mountain but a ring of mountains, the remains of a volcanic caldera, with a big lake called Hamana-ko in the center. It would take me three to four hours to climb over Tametoge, the high pass on the west side of the caldera.

After I cross over the Tametoge, I thought, I will be in Shizuokaken. The road to Tametoge was wet from the rain the previous night. The mountain air was fresh and clear and I thought it was a good atmosphere for contemplation. However, there were many dead frogs and snakes on the road. Frogs like water and must have been happy that the rain was pouring after a long time so they jumped onto the rain-filled road but the cars came and crushed them. I felt sorry for them. If they had remained croaking in the rice field they would have been safe. I suddenly remembered the battle place. Humans and frogs are different but when I saw the dead frogs I thought, humans die just like that on the battlefield, do they not? They were not killed by cars but by more terrible weapons. I stopped and prayed for the people who died in battle and for the frogs.

There was a toll gate for cars to cross the first mountain in the Hakone range so I asked whether there was a fee for pedestrians.

The official asked, “Are you walking from here?”

“Yes, I already walked here, so I will continue walking.”

“From where?”

“From Kyōto.”

“That’s amazing!”

He did not charge me anything. Perhaps I am the only person in the world who ever walked from the toll gate over the Tametoge to Hamana-ko. The mountain road had many curves. On one side I saw a river in the valley below. On the other side was the steep mountain. The fragrance of the trees after the rain wafted on the air. When I was a student, the teacher used to sing the song of Hakone and now I sang this song to help me walk. A few days later, I thought, I will cross over Hakone-yama. Today is just a trial. I could see the toll gate looking very small far below. I had already climbed to a high elevation and I was thankful for my two legs. There were many big red rocks on the mountainside so this first mountain was called Akaiwa-yama, Red Rock Mountain.

At last I arrived at the entrance to the tunnel between the prefectures. I could see Toyohashi below. I had stayed two days in that city and had met people there so I turned back to wave to them. Sayōnara Toyohashi, I will miss you. Then I entered the tunnel. There were no lights. It was so dark I could not see the end of the tunnel. After walking two hundred meters, I came out on the other side.

I had now entered Shizuoka-ken. Suddenly I could see Hamana-ko clearly below, as if I could reach out and touch the lake. The north end had many inlets. I walked down the steep slope, going so fast I was almost running. On both sides there were mikan orchards with thousands of golden tangerines. If I stretched out my hand, I could easily pick them but I could not do that because I was on a pilgrimage. The pickups passing me on the road were on their way to spray the orchards. I will remember this scene the next time I eat a tangerine. Since breakfast I had not had any food and now it was 2 o’clock but there were no food shops around. Feeling hungry, I hiked down the mountain.

When I arrived at Mikkabi, famous for mikan, I saw signs advertising orchards where you could pick your own tangerines. I walked up and down and around all the inlets. My legs were a little sore. At last the road became flat. I was walking along the original road. Beside it the new Tomei Expressway was under construction. The rain last night had washed the dust from the road. This road would be noisy after the expressway was finished and we would never be able to experience this calmness again.

I wanted to go to Kanzan-ji, a temple on the south side of the lake. I would either have to walk all the way around or take a boat across. To walk would take a long time so I decided to go in a small motorboat. At the dock I saw a sign, “Please hang this flag.” If the flag was hanging, the boat would take passengers for free. The wind on the lake was a little cold as it was already the middle of October. 

Chapter 6 Pilgrimage Day 12

Diary of the White Bush Clover

Day 12 (17 October) Toyohashi to Nagashino and back to Toyohashi

Since I had arrived at Toyohashi one day earlier than expected, I decided to stay one more night there. In the morning I asked the priest to pray for my notebook and in the afternoon we took a train together to Nagashino, the site of a famous battle where Tokugawa Ieyasu won against Takeda Shingen. Takeda was a samurai from Kai, now called Yamanashi-ken. Kyōto was the capital city at that time. Every samurai wanted to control Kyōto. Takeda tried to go to Kyōto but on the way, Tokugawa, who ruled Mikawa, now called Aichi-ken, fought Takeda and his men at Toyohashi and won. Tokugawa fought a lot of battles and eventually he became the shogun of most of Japan, ruling from Honshū to Kyūshū, in the south, and Shikoku, the smallest of Japan’s four main islands. After he became shogun, Tokugawa moved the capital to Edo, now called Tōkyō.

On the edge of the small town of Nagashino was a mountain, called Horai-san, famous for its many bupposo, a kind of owl. It rained a little and I realized it had been quite a while since it had rained. It was a little bit cold.

We arrived at the house where the priest was taking me. There was a pub in front. The priest went straight through the pub and entered the house without any introduction. In front of the family altar he lit a candle and some incense and began to pray. The owner was not there so I thought it was strange. The owner was in the pub, singing with the customers very loudly and clapping. I was very surprised. The priest continued praying. I was angry because the priest was a good man, praying at the family altar, but instead of the family joining him, the owner was singing in the pub.

Later on a young woman came in with a donation for the priest. I looked at her face. She was one of the singers in the pub. The priest’s face was smiling as he talked to her but I was not smiling at all. She served the priest some sakē. She was drunk and could not speak properly but their conversation became very serious. She had hated her parents because they did not believe in her. They had treated her differently than her brothers so she left home. At first she worked as a waitress but gradually her life got worse and she fell into the wrong kind of work but nobody noticed. She tried again to work in a restaurant but if they knew about her past they did not want to employ her.

The owner of this pub knew all about her past but gave her a job anyway. So she worked hard for this woman because the pub owner had helped her through a difficult time. There were tears in her eyes as she said, “I want to marry and be a wife and have children.” She did not look like the drunken woman I had seen a moment ago. I felt ashamed of myself. Now I looked at her through rose-colored glasses. I had only seen her from the surface, not her inner self. She was just like a flower blooming from the mud. Her body had been violated but her heart was pure. The way she acted in front of the customers was just part of her job. I was touched by this woman. The priest had known everything about her. Later that evening when we got on the train she came to see us off. She looked like a different woman. Her manner was extremely polite as she said sayōnara to us. Listening to the sound of the train, I reflected on what had happened that evening.

Chapter 6 Pilgrimage Day 11

Diary of the White Bush Clover

Day 11 (16 October) Gamagori to Toyohashi

While the people in the hotel were still sleeping, I went out for a walk by the sea. It was very calm and I breathed deeply. Far away I saw fishing boats coming back to shore. I thought I had gotten up early but I realized that someone had risen even earlier and had already finished their work for the day.

Today I walked to Toyohashi, arriving a day earlier than I had originally planned. On the way I stood at the bottom of a hill and prayed to Kobo Daishi’s statue, which stood at the top of Kobo-san. Kūkai, known after death as Kobo Daishi, brought the teachings of Buddhism back from China and he studied at Heian temple, then went on to found Koyasan and the tantric Shingon sect. The statue faced Mikawa Bay and the far horizon. Traveling by shinkansen you could only see the back of the statue but on my walk I was able to see his face.

I worried about the amount of traffic. In the distant past the road was originally built for people walking but now the emphasis was on the importance of cars and pedestrians are forced to walk on the side of the road. It is especially dangerous for old people and children. It is a pity. Three men offered me a ride. One was a young truck driver, one was a middle-aged businessman and one was an older man. Thanking each of them, I refused and continued walking.

I wanted to post my letters in the town of Maeshiba, so I entered the post office beside the road. As soon as I opened the door three young women working in the post office said “Konichiwa” in unison. I was surprised and looked around but I was the only customer there. I said “Good afternoon” in return to them. I could not believe that all three of them would greet one person. Usually officials have a reputation of not being so polite. If all public officials were like these women, people would feel more at ease.

I entered Toyohashi without having had anything to eat from morning until 1:30 in the afternoon. I could walk all day without eating. People can work without food for one or two days. I had lunch at a roadside restaurant. Next door was a service station. I asked for a memento stamp for my diary. Two men working in greasy clothes were surprised to see my notebook. “Good luck on your journey and take care,” they said and waved goodbye. I telephoned the next temple. I thought perhaps it was nearby but it was on the other side of the town so I felt disappointed and tired. If I rested I would arrive too late so I started walking with determination.

After awhile I reached the suburb on the outskirts of Toyohashi and found the temple. The priest of the sub-temple of Honmyo-ji welcomed me warmly. The priest’s mother was ama-san, a Buddhist nun. She said to me, “Let’s go to the sentō together. You need to relax and refresh yourself after your hard walk.” It had been a long time since I had been to a public bath. In the bath I looked around at the many women, all strangers to me. But everybody was naked together in the bath and some were talking to each other. It is a very special Japanese way. I had never thought about the sentō in this way before. Without saying anything we could trust each other and feel connected. That night I slept easily, feeling completely at home.