Shikoku - The Best Story

When we arrived at Temple 1 it seemed like a bit of an anti-climax. Maybe because it was 7am and raining or maybe because the temple itself was quite small but I always thought the first temple would be a big, bustling one and it wasn’t. Like many things in Japan however, appearances can be deceptive. After completing our usual rituals at the temple we headed to the temple shop. Seeing as it is the first temple you can buy everything here including the traditional ohenro clothes and numerous books and maps.

The first thing I noticed was that one of the bald-headed priests was actually a lady. She was obviously just as surprised to see a foreigner and so we got talking. She assumed that we were just starting out but we explained that because we lived in Kyushu we had started at Temple 43. She then asked why we weren’t wearing our pilgrim uniform. At this point I wasn’t quite sure if we were being scolded. I tried my best to explain that we were interested in seeing Shikoku and the temples and took the pilgrimage seriously but we didn’t feel right wearing the uniform as we weren’t sure about the correct things to do and didn’t want to offend anybody.

She smiled at this and then came around the counter to greet us. After making us sign our names in a guest book, she took two henro jackets from the shelf and gave them to us. I reached for our wallets but she would not let us pay. She told us that we were “ohenro-san” and that should enjoy our time left on our journey.

With many thanks and bows we left the shop and the first thing I did was burst into tears. I was so touched. It didn’t matter to her that we weren’t Buddhist or that we were foreigners. We were accepted; not because of who we were but for what we were doing. That was a great feeling and we wore our jackets every day after that!