Kobo Daishi travels with you

And he don't take no jibba jabba.

The pilgrim uniform consists of several items. There's the hat, which I lost somewhere. I'll get another one at the next temple. There`s the Buddhist rosary beads, which I've pimped out into a dual bead matrix/military tribute necklace thing. I'll post a picture when I find some damn wifi. There's the white pilgrim coat, which has a dual meaning. While white symbolizes purity and truth, it is also the color of death in Japan; thus, donning the white coat means that a pilgrim is ready to die in pursuit of enlightenment on this quest. Lol, I wouldn't say I`m that hardcore. There`s the Buddhist man purse, which carries random items, as well as the all important stamp book that proves you've visited each temple. And finally, there`s the kongo-tsue, aka the Kobo Daishi walking stick.

Kobo Daishi is the founder of Shingon Buddhism, and the kongo-tsue staff is the embodient of his will and soul that travels with you every step of the pilgrimage. As you would expect, there are some rules for how you are supposed to use the thing.
1. When you stop to rest, make sure the staff is taken care of before yourself. It's easier to prop it up against a log or something before you take your pack off anyway, so this comes naturally.
2. When you cross a bridge, don`t tap the staff on the path. This is due to a story that when Kobo Daishi was in the city of Ozu, all the guesthouses were full and no one would open their home to him, so he had to sleep under a bridge. I think in Ozu they have a festival where they put blankets and comforters on a Kobo Daishi statue, but let`s be honest: they're never gonna live that diss down.
3. Wash the tip of the staff with water before you go inside a building and put it in the alcove or umbrella holder. This was sort of a big deal in Tokushima where the pilgrimage began, but in the later provinces they don`t have a bucket out for this purpose, so whatever.
4. In general, treat the staff with respect.

Some times I talk to the staff, Full Metal Jacket style. No, I haven't given it a name. (But only because it already has one.) Let me explain. I'm spending massive parts of the day walking by myself up in the mountains, on the side of highways, or on random trails through rice fields and such. I get a little lonely, and a little crazy, so I just think out loud, or sing songs, or imagine what a conversation between myself and Vin Diesel would be like. I inevitably let slip a cuss word or two during these monologues, at which point I promptly apologize to the staff, just a simple "Sorry." In fact, I apologize to the staff A LOT, because I screw up a lot. I lean the staff against a tree and it falls, I tap the staff while walking across a bridge, I recite the cheeseburger scene from Pulp Fiction, etc. Sorry, sorry, sorry. As long as you apologize, its okay. But if you do something really dumb, Kobo Daishi will punish you.

Despite my pre-pilgrimage fantasies of walking from town to town fighting crime as a wandering staff-wielding vigilante, the kongo-tsue makes for a crummy weapon. It`s made of cheap wood, it`s balanced all wrong, and it's square, which means if you hit something with it, the corners will jab into your palm. Its sole purpose is to help you on your journey to enlightenment, a tool of peace. That said, it is acceptable to use it to defend yourself in an emergency, usually against some snakes on the side of the road, or to clear the path of spiderwebs and such. However, on the trail to temple 45, I started to get overzealous. I was going full kung fu and using the staff to smack some shrubs that were slightly blocking the path. I switched to a backhand grip for maximum ninja power, and let one of the bushes have it at full strength. However as I completed the swing, the other end of the staff circled around and THWACKED me right in the noggin! Ouch!!! Oh man, Kobo Daishi just bonked me on the head with his cane for acting like a dumbass! It was like the scene in Kill Bill Part 2 where Pai Mei hits Uma Thurman every time she screws up her kung fu exercises. While I was honored to be personally scolded by the founder of Shingon Buddhism, I got the message, and finally left the shrubs alone. When I got to the next temple, I put a little extra money in the offering box as penance for being such an idiot.

And things have been going great since then! If you apologize, and you mean it, its okay. Just stop acting like an idiot, or Kobo Daishi will smack you. He`ll smack you out of love and compassion, but he will smack you. Just saying.