‘Japan or death’ – Cardinal Herbert Vaughan, founder of the Mill Hill Missionaries.
My first acquaintance with the Japanese Temple Trail, the Henro Michi on the island of Shikoku, was when I walked from from Enschede to Santiago, some 20 years ago, and met a Japanese, who told me that it is as easy (or difficult) for a Dutch person to walk in Japan as it is for a Japanese to walk in Spain. With the help of a Franciscan, who has been working in Japan for more than 50 years, I made my first tour some years back and since then I have become addicted / fascinated and now I am now walking the 88-temple trail for the fifth time.
‘On my way doing the Henro Michi in Japan. The journey on foot is tough going! Life is like sun and rain, it is as it is’.
This pilgrimage trail is not as well-known as the Santiago de Compostela Camino, but both have much in common. These pilgrimages both started around the 8th-9th century. You can go there by bus, cycling or walking. You can get blisters on both routes. On both routes you meet people with the same objective; they are routes of encounter.
Here and there I am asked how come a Christian was doing this Buddhist pilgrimage. That is very difficult to explain if you only have a few words of Japanese at your disposal, but with few words and many gestures I try to say that by walking together Buddhists and Christians can come closer together. In plain language I would say that my missionary life consists of bringing people closer together, Christians and Buddhists, young and old.
Ben Engelbertink mhm
