Posts from — March 2009

A gyoja ascetic dresses for the Kaihogyo 1,000-day devotional mountain circuit walk.

千日回峰行：京都大廻り
I didn’t write about it here, because I’m not allowed to take pictures, but last year I was invited to participate in supporting the monk Hoshino Endo as he performed 100 straight nights of traversing 40 kilometers of mountain trails (days 701-800) in a tradition that goes back more than 1,000 years on Mt. Hiei in Kyoto: the Sen-nichi kaihougyo, the 1,000-day devotional circuit. I was only able to get up in the middle of the night and get out to Sekizan-zen-in Temple a few times for Endo’s 3 a.m. appearance, but it was enough so that I am on their official list of supporters now. So, recently, I received a notice that he would be doing the 801-900 circuit this year, the Kyoto o-mawari. This adds up to about 60 kilometers per day, the longest , Coming down the mountain and circling Kyoto clockwise one night, and the next day going around the other way and climbing back up.

That began Saturday. As soon as he finishes 100 straight days and nights of 60km hikes, without a day of rest, he will begin the final 100 days, leaving the mountaintop temple at 1 a.m. and returning at dawn, a comparatively short 15 km of mountain trails. The cliche “Failure is not an option” applies with chilling accuracy to the Kaihogyo: The monk, called a gyoja, carries a knife and rope within his pristine white robe to take his life if injury, illness or doubt won’t let him continue.

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A good time was had by ALL.