At 6:45 a.m., my neighbor Kazuko appeared in my "genkan." "Let's go!" she said. I abandoned the bread in the toaster and put on my boots. Island cleanup duty is scheduled for 7 a.m., but in the usual island fashion, the day starts 15 minutes earlier here than in the rest of Japan.
"Be sure to bring your 'kama,' " she reminded me. I searched through the tool shed for my rusty bladed scythe. I inherited the kama with the house, like all the other necessary tools for living on a Japanese island: an array of gloves, long rubber "nagagutsu" boots, fishing nets, midget brooms and rakes and a Little Bo Peep hat. The previous 80-year-old "o-baa-chan" who lived here left them behind, and sometimes I feel as if I've just picked up where she left off. I left the house appropriately garbed: Little Bo Peep with a scythe. Get outta my way.
The morning's task was to clear the "Shikoku Michi," which is our island's miniature version of the Shikoku 88-temple Buddhist pilgrimage in Shikoku. Although many people have heard of the famous pilgrimages such as the Shikoku pilgrimage and the Saigoku Kannon pilgrimage, there are hundreds of these smaller pilgrimages as well. Our pilgrimage goes all the way around Shiraishi Island, along the mountain peaks and over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house. It features 88 Buddhist statues (rather than temples) and can be done in a day.