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 7

Diary of the White Bush Clover

Day 7 (12 October) Ōkagi to Ichinomiya

At 5 o’clock in the morning I went back to the temple for a one-hour prayer session with the priest. Then I began walking once again. I had to cross bridges over three big rivers, Ibi-gawa, Nagara-gawa and Kiso-gawa. After walking nineteen kilometers I took a break. A bullet train passed right beside me, startling me. I wanted to compare my pace with the shinkansen and I calculated that one day of my walking was equivalent to ten minutes on the train. It might be the same distance but the meaning was completely different. I was very happy to be walking and praying.

When I reached Nagara-gawa I saw that there was a special pedestrian path along the side of the bridge. Usually I had to hurry across a bridge because it was only for cars. I stopped in the middle of this bridge and looked at the river. The water was very low and I realized it was because there was a dam upstream.

Nagara-gawa is famous for ukai, fishing with trained cormorants, big water birds that catch fish by scooping them up in their large beaks. The fishermen capture the birds and put them on a tether with a band around their neck so that they cannot swallow the fish they catch. I looked at the river and wondered whether right now someone was making the birds catch fish and then stealing the fish to eat for themselves. I stood there reflecting on that as I looked down at the water.

After crossing the river I arrived at Ichinomiya. I was hungry so I went to a crowded soba shop. I had not spoken to anybody the whole day. When I went into the noodle shop I felt as if I was stepping into a completely different world because it was so noisy and crowded.

Ichinomiya is famous for textiles and I could hear the sound of the looms as I walked through the streets. At last I arrived at the temple. The priest there had the same family name as myself, Goto. When I first saw his face he appeared a bit scary but after talking to him he appeared to be very interesting and kind.

As soon as I arrived at the temple the priest asked me if I would like to go to a temple in Gifu with him, which was about ten kilometers away. He asked in this way, “I am going to Gifu, what do you want to do?” I thought he was testing me. I could have said I was tired and taken a rest but if I did not go I might lose the opportunity to visit another temple. The priest walked without considering how tired I was and that I had been walking all day. From the temple we walked to the station. The steps were steep and I was so tired I felt like crying. I was also really hungry and felt freezing cold in the wind. Also my hair was all a mess. I believed all this was a trial for me. When I arrived at the temple in Gifu I was revived by a big bowl full of white rice and felt a bit livelier after eating. We got back to Ichinomiya around 10 o’clock. I was so tired I just fell into bed.