Yesterday I wrote about the Obon service at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church – Chanting for Our Ancestors and Ourselves. I return today to complete story of the day.
During Ven. Kenjo Igarashi’s Gosho lecture he began discussing Obon and the origins of the service and then he wandered off into a personal tale. You might call it:
What a Young Monk Did for Summer Vacation
(Here’s some background. It’s not from his story Sunday but from earlier discussions. Rev. Igarashi took his vow to become a priest on April 28, 1968. His parents disapproved of him becoming a priest. His older brother, who became an orthopedic physician in Tokyo, was held up as the guiding example. Rev. Igarashi’s mother eventually gave up trying to dissuade him but his father never accepted Kenjo’s decision. After high school, Rev. Igarashi attended a junior college in Minobu.)
On Sunday, Rev. Igarashi said it was during summer vacation while attending college in Minobu that he decided to participate in a traditional Nichiren Shu ascetic practice in which a monk walks from Minobu to Tokyo chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo while pounding on a uchiwa daiko, a traditional fan drum unique to the Nichiren sect.
This was his first ascetic practice and he admits to being worried about what lay ahead. After all, he was supposed take no money or food or water. He was to have only the clothes on his back and his drum.
So he hedged his bets. He put some paper money in a zippered pouch inside his robes before starting out. Of course, no sooner had he started than a typhoon struck the area, drenching the young monk as he began his journey.
Eventually the rain stopped and the weather became beautiful. Rev. Igarashi, getting hungry, stopped and examined his zippered pouch to consider his dining options. (You know what’s coming.) He found the pouch empty.
No money to pay for a meal, the young monk returned to his journey, marching along chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo as he beat his drum.
The area around Minobu is farmland and there are very few people on the road. Eventually he encountered a farmer. He told him of his journey and the farmer offered to take him to his home and give him water. Once there, the farmer’s wife offered him food.
The young monk continued his journey, eventually arriving in urbanized areas. Rev. Igarashi explained that his practice involved standing outside a home and pounding loudly on the drum while chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. He found this deeply embarassing.
Eventually a resident of the house would come out and give him the equivalent of a dollar or 50 cents. Going house to house like this he would eventually gather enough money to buy a meal.
The trip took five days to complete.
According to Google Maps the trip from Mount Minobu to Tokyo and specifically Homonji Park can be walked in 34 to 35 hours, or a little less than 7 hours day.