Shikoku - Prayers

I have never been religious. I was christened when I was a baby and spent 9 years in the Girl’s Brigade (imagine the scouts and add a church) when I was younger but it just never stuck with me. I sometimes went to church at Christmas and Easter but it was never really about God; I was just simply remembering that those particular days are special and not just about presents and chocolate.

Since moving to Japan I have had two very close friends with very strong faith. To say that I’m envious is perhaps a little too strong but their faith does amaze me and I sometimes wonder if I am missing something. I have a bible that was given to me when I was christened and I’ve been thinking about it while on this trip. I don’t know what made me bring it to Japan when I moved here but the idea of leaving it behind seemed wrong somehow. For something that is so important to me, it seems odd I’ve never actually read it. Maybe I’ll get around to changing that someday…..

Back to Shikoku….Not being Buddhist myself I questioned whether I should even do the pilgrimage in the first place. I wanted to see Shikoku and the temples but did it matter that I wasn’t a follower, or that I didn’t say the prayers as I am supposed to?

In the end I decided that the fact that I was worrying about these things meant I respected them and in some ways that is enough. As it turned out Dawn and I often spent much more time at each temple than many Japanese people who seemed to arrive, pray and leave in about two minutes. We also observed basic temple rituals such as washing our hands and mouth before entering and offering money. As for prayers I decided to simply take a few minutes at each temple and let my mind think about all the wonderful things we had seen and done as well as the important things such as family and friends. In such an amazing place as Shikoku, inspiration is never far away.