Pilgrimage On Shikoku Island

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Pilgrimage On Shikoku Island

Online forum for discussions related to the 88 temple pilgrimage on Shikoku, Japan.


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    Temple 62: strange things going on. Henro beware!

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    patnpetunia


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    Join date : 2018-06-02

    Temple 62: strange things going on. Henro beware! Empty Temple 62: strange things going on. Henro beware!

    Post by patnpetunia Sat Jun 02, 2018 7:23 am

    Hi, first time post. Thanks for the wealth of inf on the forum and the web. I'm in Shikoku now. There is something strange going on at temple 62. Starting at temple 60, there is a board by the nokyocho office showing times between temples. It all makes sense except for the fact that it says that walking from temple 61 (the weird modern one, Kouonji) to 62 will take 1 minute. My prep said it was 1.4 km. Fast henro! But sure enough, after a few steps there is a sign for 62 and a parking lot. There you'll find a makeshift cabin with an alter and it's manned by monks. I got my nokyo there. Then later, you get to a building that looks like 62, has the Shikoku road sign. I went in out of curiosity. People at the office were not monks, and told me that the other 62 was a fake. They offered to put the 'true' nokyo at the back of my book. After the fact, they said it was 600 yen. I had of course pulled out 300. The guy apologised with the smile of a crook. I knew I'd been had. Then at 63, the monk subtly checked my book at 64. I think to be sure I had the correct seal.

    So something is not right there. It's like the monks have been thrown out of their temple and that temple 62 is currently being run by crooks. I'm not bothered by that seal at the end of my book. Bad karma will be on them for actively swindling an honest henro. But anybody on the trail should beware!

    Pat
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    Rollerblading


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    Join date : 2018-05-30

    Temple 62: strange things going on. Henro beware! Empty Re: Temple 62: strange things going on. Henro beware!

    Post by Rollerblading Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:52 pm

    That's so strange. I'd never expect that along the pilgrimage. Thank you for the heads up.

    Just to clarify, you are saying that people set up a fake nokyo booth before Hōjuji? Or was it the proper stamp office that ended up asking for 600yen?
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    tneva82


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    Join date : 2018-05-23

    Temple 62: strange things going on. Henro beware! Empty Re: Temple 62: strange things going on. Henro beware!

    Post by tneva82 Sat Jun 02, 2018 10:13 pm

    There's issues with 62 and opening times. Basically they aren't open normal 7-5. Reijokai(group managing pilgrimage) disagreed heavily but court declared in favour of temple. One japanese sendatsu(official guide) then basically declared let's not go to t62 but to shrine near t61 which apparentally is original place of worship to begin with.

    So which way to go? Technically the ones on parking lot were the "rebels". If you believe member of reijokai to be true then parking lot ones are now as temple(first time in pilgrimage history) temple isn't now member of it

    Btw 62 opening times that sparked whole thing are 8-12 and 1-5 i think

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    patnpetunia


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    Post by patnpetunia Sun Jun 03, 2018 7:00 am

    But why then charge 600 for the stamp? That makes it look quite dishonest after you constantly pay 300!
    P
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    tneva82


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    Join date : 2018-05-23

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    Post by tneva82 Sun Jun 03, 2018 11:20 am

    Well the price isn't officially set so 300 is custom. Btw in chicibu it was 400 per temple
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    Rollerblading


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    Post by Rollerblading Sun Jun 03, 2018 8:32 pm

    It's just strange to have them be the only temple along the pilgrimage route to double their price, especially during what seems to be a disagreement of temple legitimacy. It would be nice to get Dave's  view of what's happening when he sees this.
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    tneva82


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    Post by tneva82 Mon Jun 04, 2018 2:32 am

    Rollerblading wrote:It's just strange to have them be the only temple along the pilgrimage route to double their price, especially during what seems to be a disagreement of temple legitimacy. It would be nice to get Dave's  view of what's happening when he sees this.

    Well yes and maybe this is part of disagreement. But whole mess started not with issues of legitimacy but opening times. Reijokai wants all temples to be open 7-17. This temple disagreed. Then some folk disagreed with that and started their own stamping.

    Both sides have their point and is going to be interesting decision how I'll do it next year if it's still going on.

    Oh and maybe the "rebellion" has caused such a drop in visitors that they needed to make a price hike. Remember all income temple gets is from visitors. They get no tax funding etc in Japan.
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    tneva82


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    Post by tneva82 Mon Jun 04, 2018 9:10 am

    Btw seems all official bus tours have been told to not go there. That HAS to have had big impact on their income. If about 150k does pilgrimage in a year then let's say 2/3 does by bus. That's 300,000 yen(30k dollars about) less a year just from stamps. That likely does make quite a dent on their budget. On these numbers doubling doesn't even cover difference.

    What a mess. Hopefully this gets sorted out.
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    Rollerblading


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    Post by Rollerblading Mon Jun 04, 2018 12:35 pm

    Yeah sure is. Thanks for all the information, you gave me a good view of the situation. I'm heading back to shikoku in about two weeks so I appreciate you letting me know what's going on!
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    tneva82


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    Post by tneva82 Mon Jun 04, 2018 12:43 pm

    Your welcome. These comes mostly from what david morten(?) Has told and japanese newspaper articles he linked.

    I'll be starting on 10.7 from susaki. Think you'll be ahead of me then
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    Shikoku Henro Trail
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    Temple 62: strange things going on. Henro beware! Empty Re: Temple 62: strange things going on. Henro beware!

    Post by Shikoku Henro Trail Tue Jun 19, 2018 11:13 am

    This issue with Temple 62 goes well beyond simply their opening and closing times. That was just a thorn in the side of the official 88 Temple Association (the Reijokai). The real problem is money. As i understand it, T62 didn't feel that they needed to pay dues to the Reijokai as membership in the association is purely voluntary. The Reijokai, and the other 87 temple, didn't see it that way so they took T62 to court to force them to pay dues. The court sided with Temple 62 so they refused to pay anything.

    Long story short, the Reijokai and the other temples agreed to kick T62 out of the association. A small building was set up in the parking lot at T61 and that is recognized as the official T62 until they can figure out what to do and where to get another temple to become the new T62. The official bus tours and all official sendatsu (guides) agreed to go along with the Reijokai's decision so all have stopped going to the temple and now stop at the hut in the parking lot at T61.

    The head priest and family of the temple that was T62 have always been considered "strange" and their relationship with the Reijokai and other temples was always strained. No one knows how this is going to resolve itself. My GUESS is that another nearby temple will be chosen, the Reijokai and the other temples will come up with money to rehab it to bring it up to expected standards, and it will then become the new T62.

    In the meantime, the "strange" people at the temple that used to be T62 continue their normal ways --- which includes charging 600 yen for the temple stamp. Which no one but themselves will recognize as official or acceptable.

    Dave

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