Today I’m still running the 88 temple pilgrimage! - The Joys and Pains of Traveling 1,200 km around Shikoku on My Own 2 Feet

Now that I’m going to write about Kukai, I must finish the 88 temple pilgrimage at any cost while my legs are still working. Several years have passed since I began to feel this way and finally, for 2023, I decided to bite the bullet and start this journey. The reason is simple. I still believed that my legs were still strong, but they are beginning to show signs of falling apart, and I’m starting to feel unconfident in myself when running long distances.

I have attended and completed 20 full marathon races, and I proudly beat my own personal records in most of them. In my prime, I used to run 400-500 km every month and I was willing to run 40 km during training. Due to this hard training I put myself through, starting mountain climbing later felt like I was starting off doing trail running. I found it enjoyable to run through the mountains. I felt really proud of these healthy legs, but my muscles must be getting old because they have been suffering from a number of physical problems lately.

This was why I thought it was now or never, so I started the pilgrimage route this year. I cannot finish the whole pilgrimage route in one go due to my work schedule, so I decided to go on a day-by-day basis to visit temples. The first day was July 23. I visited the first temple, Ryozen-ji, to the 10th temple, Kirihata-ji, and ran about 30 km. This was a level of difficulty that I had never experienced before. The extreme heat of the midsummer caused me to run out of gas and I suffered from dehydration along the way, so during the last 5 km of the route that day, I experienced cramps in both legs while running for the first time in my life. As soon as I arrived at the goal, Kirihata-ji, at the end of the day and saw that I had another 333 steps to climb at the temple grounds, I was speechless. I was determined to climb those damn stairs as I was dragging my cramping legs, leaning on the railings, and pulling my body up with my arms.

Still, when everything was over, it became a rather fun memory. Everything is an experience and this is a lesson I learned: Don’t run on asphalt roads in direct sunlight on a windless summer day with temperatures reaching over 30 degrees Celsius! It felt like it was well over 40 degrees and I still ran out of water, no matter how many bottles of water I packed in my backpack. I have to make it a point to avoid these dangerous challenges.

The second day, September 23, was a national holiday. I had planned to climb the mountain from Kirihata-ji via Fujii-dera (11th) to Shosan-ji (12th), which is said to be the most difficult part of the pilgrimage route. Then I would spend the night at the Uemura Ryokan on the way to Dainichi-ji (13th). However, on the second day, I finally realized that the glory days of my strong healthy legs were long gone. Since the distance from Kirihata-ji to Fujii-dera was only a little over 10 km and the road was flat, it would have seemed like a mere warm-up part on the pilgrimage route. However, I ended up hurting my legs on a seemingly easy flat road. They started hurting more and more as I ran, and I thought to myself, “I can’t do this anymore...” I gave up climbing up to Shosan-ji. On the second day, I had to regretfully stop at Fujii-dera and I was able to finish only 10 km.

Maybe I wanted to make a comeback for this defeat. I scheduled the third day of the challenge on October 9, two days before my birthday. I was determined not only to risk my life to climb up from Fujii-dera to Shosan-ji, but also to go on my own feet to Kannon-ji, the 12th temple in Tokushima. It was my birthday present to myself! Perhaps my strong will paid off, I was able to make it to Shosan-ji as scheduled without any leg problems, despite its long running distance of 42 km and the tough climbing involved. From there, the long distance to Kannon-ji was a series of hardships and a test of endurance due to leg trouble and pain, but I made it safely to Kannon-ji by evening. I knew I could do it if I tried.

And then, today was the fourth day of the pilgrimage. The plan was to go from Kannon-ji (16th) to Onzan-ji (18th) via Ido-ji (17th), and then to Tatsue-ji (19th). If I had enough energy left, I was hoping to go to Kakurin-ji (20th) and Tairyu-ji (21st) on the same day. The distance from Kannon-ji to Tatsue-ji is 24 km, so it would be a little too short if the pilgrimage ended there for the day. It is said that people in the past used to walk 40 km a day, so I hope to walk at least 40 km a day while on the pilgrimage. I thought, “If only I could make it to Tairyu-ji!” but it wasn’t that easy.

I got up early in the morning at 5:00 a.m. I took the first train from Tokushima to Ko. Once I arrived at the station, I first ran to Kannon-ji, the 16th temple, which was the last stop on my previous trip. The early morning running felt light. From Kannon-ji, my pilgrimage route began again. I first ran 2.8 km through rice paddies and residential areas to the 17th temple, Ido-ji. This was quite pleasant. Although the scenery was unfamiliar to me, I could fully enjoy the landscape of Tokushima, which I don’t usually get to see.

After leaving Ido-ji, the next temple on the list was the 18th, Onzan-ji. The history of this temple is related to Kukai’s mother. On the temple grounds, there is a monument to commemorate her hair shaving ceremony. The distance to Onzan-ji is a whopping 18 km. If I could successfully complete this distance as my goal for the day, Tairyu-ji would be in sight. Moreover, the route is on National Highway 55, a road that I usually drive on when I go back and forth between Tokushima and Komatsushima. I was thrilled to be running on that familiar road on my own two feet. In addition, Onzan-ji is located in Komatsushima, so it’s close to our office. I was full of energy!

However, a harsh reality awaited me. After 10 km or so, I began to feel the same pain in my legs that I had felt on the road to Fujii-dera. “Oh God, I give up!” was my honest feeling. If this pain had continued, it would have been too difficult to keep on running, so I stopped and tried some stretching exercises. I then massaged my legs and I hoped in my mind that my legs would somehow hold up, but I had already run nearly 20 km, and the pain would just not go away.

Still, I managed to arrive at Onzan-ji. After I took a 15-minute rest and did some stretching, I headed for Tatsue-ji, the 19th temple. The distance was less than 5 km. Normally, this would be a short distance for me, but my legs were already screaming, and I had no choice but to endure the pain and just continue running. It was 10:10 a.m. when I arrived at Tatsue-ji. I had started at 6:30 a.m. and had already been running for 3 hours and 40 minutes, but after thinking about it a lot, I decided to keep running to the next temple, Kakurin-ji, because I had already come all this way. This would be a long distance of 15 km. At this point, I felt it would be too hard and my legs still hurting, but I thought I could do it and decided to go.

The Tatsue River flows near Tatsue-ji with a red bridge crossing it. When I crossed the bridge and was running toward Kakurin-ji in the west, I suddenly started to feel a sense of crisis. Were the heavens perhaps trying to stop me? The major problem was that I was scheduled to attend a seminar hosted by the Governor of Tokushima Prefecture, Mr. Gotoda, close to Tokushima Station at 4:00 p.m. on the same day. That means that I would have to arrive at Kakurin-ji by 1:00 p.m. in order to make it on time to the seminar. Well, I looked at my watch and it was already 10:40 a.m. I had two hours to get to Kakurin-ji, but I was not at all confident that I could run 15 km in time, especially because I had to climb up a mountain path.

In life, sometimes you have to know when it’s time to quit! I did a great job running 24 km from Tokushima to Komatsushima for the first time in my life today, so that was good enough for me. I told myself it was okay, and I decided to go back from Tatsue River to JR Tatsue Station, and then take a train back to Tokushima City. It was a bit of a haphazard plan, but I think it was a wise decision. If I had continued on up the mountain, I would have been stuck in frustration halfway up there.

On the fifth day of the pilgrimage, I started from Tatsue-ji, leaving from Komatsushima. I then climbed up the mountain to Kakurin-ji, then to Tairyu-ji, and from there to Byodo-ji, a 40 km mountain road. I knew it was going to be a difficult route, so I really needed to get ready for it. After Byodo-ji was Yakuo-ji in Hiwasa, and then Murotomisaki. Was I going to be able to overcome the barrier of the 88 temple pilgrimage route in Shikoku? Was I ever going to be able to complete the 1,200 km while I’m still alive? There is no point in mumbling about my fears over and over again. When the time is right, it’s time to hit the road. I was going to take on the challenge with the belief that I could do it, and I was going to do everything in my power to reach the goal. That strong mind and determination is the light of destiny that’s left for me.