Shikoku pilgrimage

06/06/06. It's the Omen day. But I am very susceptible to horror, splatter and violent movies. Actually I have never watched Omen and don't know much about it. Of course Omen is a popular movie in Japan too. My friend said she will go to the theater this weekend, but I wonder if without the knowledge of Christianity, the scariness of the story would be reduced.

I wrote about Japanese horror movies before in this and this post. Those were all modern-age stories and you can enjoy them without any knowledge of Japan. Shikoku is a little bit traditional. Shikoku is written "四国" (four countries) in Japanese, but the movie title is written "死国."　Both have the same pronunciation, but the movie title "死国" means death country. It's a kind of word game.

Do you know about Shikoku Henro? It is a pilgrimage route in the Shikoku area. The 1,400-kilometer ohenro tour of 88 temples in Shikoku is thought to be walking in the footsteps of an eighth-century Buddhist monk called Kobo Daishi, or Kukai. The standard motives for Shikoku Henro are to pray for long life or for remembrance of ancestors. But not only that, many people do it to find himself/herself, forget sorrow, escape some confused life. So I suppose joy, sorrow, pain--various feelings would sink deeply into the route. Traditionally people wear this kind of costume, but now people wear more casual clothes. I heard some use driving or bus tours too, however I don't think it will have as much meaning as people will find and accomplish after walking long, deep forested mountains and its beautiful seacoast on sunny days and rainy days.

The movie Shikoku is a story related to Shikoku Henro. The story was there is a legend that if you walk 88 temple in the counter direction, the dead person will be back. A mother wants her dead daughter to come back and walks the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage backwards.... Very wet, gloomy moods are very Japanese, and I think this is the debut movie of Chiaki Kuriyama "Kill Bill."　Unfortunately the story is so-so, but if you have time, try it?

Comments

[herbal viagra]

I find that the creators do a good job hollywood. especially my I love going to the movies, I like drama movies, comedy and accion.en this area there are many prominent personalities. for them is that we can enjoy good movies

[Peter]

Hey, I really like your site! I use to live in Japan for about 6 years. I had a web blog also using typepad which was called "Hamamatsu Hakujin". I really like this post on the Shikoku Pilgrimage. This has been one of my dreams for several years and I will do it some day.
Peter

[Marco Bresicani]

I hate horror movies... :-(