Tales of a Summer Henro

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Pilgrims, or henro as they are known in Japanese, have been walking clockwise around Shikoku, Japan's fourth largest island, for well over one thousand years. They follow in the footsteps of the great Buddhist saint Kobodaishi, searching for the ever elusive enlightenment that he found there. They visit the 88 sacred temples, and in overcoming the hardships of the journey they become better for it. Or so the theory goes! Nowadays nearly all henro travel in cars, taxis or buses, and physical hardship doesn't come into it! I was a henro in the sweltering summer of 1995 and this book contains the tales of my journey.