Osettai/cultural differences:

Osettai is the support (verbally, financially, nutritionally)  the local people of Shikoku give to the walkers of the pilgrimage.

This Blog is going to attempt to compare some aspects of the Camino de Santiago (Camino Francias) in Spain and the 88 temple pilgrimage in Shikoku.  Of course, this is just my opinion only, and I am no sort of authority on either pilgrimage; I’ve just walked both and these are my observations.  This was written in response to a message I received from David Moreton, asking my opinion on these topics: accommodation, # of walkers, Osettai/culture of helping and safety.  The Osettai/cultural of helping section is quite long and will be part 2.

So, you have more time than money, possibly even some sort of weird fascination with slow trains or checking out little visited train stations. Japan’s seishun 18 kippu just might be what you are looking for.

Noriko and I returned from northern Spain about a week ago, from our month long pilgrimage to Santiago.  It feels like we’ve been back for years though.  One thing that pilgrimage teaches, is that time is far from mathematical and that it seems to be linked directly to behavior.  The first 3 days felt as if we were walking for months, the last 3 days felt like we just arrived in Spain.  In the first 3 days we traversed the Pyrenees, survived a flood and waded in mud- it took us the next week just to process those days.

It’s been an absolute wonderful week for music for us here at Sen.  We saw two shows (one of them at Sen) and a festival with 6 different acts this last weekend; more live music than we’ve seen in the last 2 months.

Another O-henro san that stayed with us that we know we will see again, is Morris Brown.  A retired professor from California, he has been in contact with us from the start.  Just a warm, sincere man with a strong passion for Japan, Buddhism and the 88 temple pilgrimage.  Of course he had some amazing stories of generosity, pain, and all the ups and downs of Shikoku.  He’s been to Japan 15 times and plans on coming again to Japan this Summer, and you guessed it, he’s coming to Matsuyama and a couple of other places in Shikoku with his wife.

So, this last 3 weeks or so has been pretty full on in terms of O-henro experiences.  We’ve witnessed O-henro beginnings, endings, documentaries (plus a  massive party) and a huge number of people from many countries putting on the vestments of pilgrimage and hitting the trail.  We’ve met so many new wonderful people, made tons of friends and really reaffirmed why we began the guesthouse in the first place.  We are constantly looking for ways to increase the exposure of Shikoku’s 88 temples to people from around the world, and both March and April have been great months for that.

(cont.)

Later that morning (after a much appreciated breakfast), we headed back to Hatton to board a train to Kandy, also an amazing ride.  Kandy is the old capital, the cultural centre of Sri Lanka and has the country’s most important temple, the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic.  There is also a nice central quarter that has a lake that is nice for strolling.  Unfortunately, there is just too much noise, pollution and bus traffic to truly enjoy the city.  The 1 stand-out thing that we did do there, was a trip to the wonderful Peradeniya Botanic Gardens, located about 10 mins away by bus.