Originally done on foot, you can now do this pilgrimage by car, bike, motorbike or even book a coach tour. We have seen and met people doing the pilgrimage each of these ways and it has been nice to swap stories with them. Because we are all taking the same path we often see the same groups of people throughout the day. This has added to the feeling of being a part of something, part of a journey, and seeing these people over again keeps us going.
We have also met a lot of people only once and this is usually because these people are walking the trail. I have so much respect for the walkers, especially in this crazy summer heat. The path to Temple 12 is often called “pilgrim’s downfall” as many of the walkers literally fall down. The hike to the temple takes 5-8 hours and then they have to get back down and find somewhere to stay.
We saw many people walking the trail and felt like we really wanted to help them. I was torn because obviously they chose to walk because they wanted to walk and so offering them a ride seemed a bit useless. Also as a pilgrim, you are not supposed to turn down gifts that are offered to you and so I didn’t want them to feel like they had to accept a ride when they didn’t want to. In the end Dawn and I decided that if we saw pilgrims walking the trail we would try and give them a snack-pack to keep them going. This was basically a bottle of water, a granola bar and a fresh orange. It was just a little something but everyone we met seemed genuinely touched and grateful. Hopefully it helped them a little.
It sounds strange but during this trip I never really felt like a foreigner in Japan. On this trail, everyone is a pilgrim and you all take the time to greet each other and respect the fact that you are all doing the journey together. Of course people were interested to know where we were from and why we were doing it but we didn’t get the same “Ah! Foreigners!” reception that has become the norm.
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