In 1972 , I walked the 1,385 kilometre path connecting the eighty-eight temples of the Shikoku pilgrimage associated with Buddhist priest , Kōbō Daishi ( 774 – 835 CE ).
THE WORLD IN BRUSH & PEN
Double Sanctity
Double Sanctity , Kannonji and Jinnein Temples , Shikoku , Japan , 1972 , Watercolour on paper , 31 x 41 cm
Hiroshi Shimazaki
In 1972 , I walked the 1,385 kilometre path connecting the eighty-eight temples of the Shikoku pilgrimage associated with Buddhist priest , Kōbō Daishi ( 774 – 835 CE ).
While the distance between temples varies , with the longest being over 100 kilometres , there is a curious exception depicted here — the distance of “ zero ” between Temple 68 and Temple 69 in a shared compound . After seventy-eight days , I returned to Temple 1 , completing the circuit . The temples ( dots ), each functioning independently , were now connected and , symbolically , Shikoku Island had become a dōjō , a mandala — a place of learning .
ARTA member Hiroshi Shimazaki is a geographer / artist who has been practicing watercolour landscape sketching and painting for sixty years . Here he offers one window into an artist ’ s mind .
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