28Nov09: Richard Kinsella

Living the Past: Thoughts on the Summit of Yashima

My six o'clock alarm sounded. I smacked it with the daily contempt of getting up to a freezing cold apartment. As my thoughts began to form I remembered what I had in store. I was climbing Yashima today. I grabbed my Henro stick and set out on what I hope to be the start of my eighty-eighty temple experience. 

              So here I am, sitting on the top of Yashima. Fresh with the retelling of the battle between the Heike and Genji clans. I sit on the edge of a wall watching friends from America, Canada, China and the UK. They are wearing Henro clothing and accessories. They throw clay disks off the side of Yashima, each trying to perform the perfect throw. Like many important moments in time, the actions of the past have been frozen in time by traditions such as the clay disk throwing. It makes me think of traditions, back home in Scotland. It makes me think of the Address to the Haggis, where the speaker takes his knife and with a great flourish, cuts the length of the haggis. The actions reflects the brutality of Scotland's history. It makes me think of Guy Fawkes Night, where hundreds of people gather round a bonfire to mark the failed attempt to blowup the Houses of Parliament. The physical Nature of these events brings both enjoyment and contemplation. They are both important dates in the Scottish calendar. 

              I have now traveled over five thousand miles and find that the battle of Yashima has found a way to exist in the present. Much like the Address to the Haggis and Guy Fawkes Night, people remember the events of the past through a simple action. So as the Genji warriors triumphantly threw their headpieces off Yashima after defeating the Heike Clan, I too will take disk in hand and hope that the Eighty-eighty Temple Circuit and the stories of Yashima's past might gain increased cultural prominence throughout all of Japan.

Haiku

A winter mountain

Shapes of brown fall to the sea

Clay disks fly for luck

Ascending pilgrims

The sound of bells echoing

English voices cry

Richard Kinsella