四国遍路の途上にて(<特集1>四国遍路-ピルグリメージとオーラル・ヒストリー)

抄録

It is interesting to find that most Shikoku-Henro pilgrims are in their 60's. Among them, we find not a few people travel alone, who might be very devoted to the pilgrimage and might dare to try the difficult Henro pathway. To take an example, I encountered a 60 year-old man when I was once on the way of the Henro. When he discovered he had already finished visiting almost half the 88 temples on the 31th day from the start, he confessed he was not accustomed to writing down his age in the visitors' register of Henro lodgings as if he were reflecting on the meaning of his age of 60, when he might be already retired from his job. Another man of 68 decided to start the Henro pilgrimage after he retired from his job; he might want to lead a new life after retirement. In both cases, the Shikoku-Henro marks the turning point of a life passage and signifies an initiation to new life stage. 'Dogyo-Ninin', which means traveling with somebody throughout the Henro path, would change the relationship of the pilgrim and an the accompanying person, be the one Kobo Daishi, founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism, a husband or a wife, a brother or a sister, a friend or even a deceased person. When we choose to travel with the deceased, we might walk the pathway mourning for the dead who might be the deceased parents or ancestor or the deceased son or daughter. When we choose to travel with the living, we could get a unique chance to reflect over our past, which might be the preparation for our own death.