BETHEL — Rumford resident Toshio Hashimoto spoke to a crowd at Gould Academy on Tuesday night about his religious pilgrimage in Japan.

Hashimoto, who owns Toshimobile, Inc. in Rumford and grows his own prize-winning shiitake mushrooms, visited the island of Shikoku in March 2011 as part of a Buddhist pilgrimage to the 88 temples on the island. He spent 38 days hiking to each one.

Hashimoto was introduced by resident Paula Gross, who told the audience that Toshio was an “esoteric Shignon Buddhist, a sect of Buddhism founded by Kobo Daishi Kukai, a Buddhist saint who lived on the island of Shikoku.”

“The pilgrimage trail to visit the main 88 temples around the perimeter of Shikoku is about 670 miles,” Gross said. “Of the several hundred thousand people who make the pilgrimage each year, only a few thousand walk. Toshio walked.”

Gross explained that the reason Hashimoto chose to visit Shikoku for the pilgrimage was to pay tribute to the saint Kobo Daishi.

“Toshio was born two months prematurely at home, and the doctor told his mother, a religious woman, that there was little chance of him surviving,” Gross said. “His mother called to all the neighbors and they prayed to Kobo Daishi. Toshio survived and thrived, and throughout his life, Toshio’s mother made him aware that his life was saved by Kobo Daishi, and that he should be grateful to him.”

Hashimoto said he prepared six months in advance for his pilgrimage and decided to save money on his trip by camping outside instead of staying in an inn.

“I packed light, and I didn’t cook anything,” Hashimoto said. “I didn’t need to cook anything. There are vending machines every 500 meters on the hike. You don’t even have to carry a water bottle. You can just get one from the vending machine.”

Hashimoto described his daily life over the course of the pilgrimage to the audience, saying that he “woke up at 4:30 every morning” to pack up his campsite, and by 5:30, was walking and eating breakfast.

“I walked about 12 hours every day, but at a slower pace than some people,” Hashimoto said. “I was able to cover a good amount of distance each day.”

As part of his presentation, Hashimoto arranged 250 photographs of his pilgrimage into a PowerPoint presentation, whittled down from 1,200 photographs.

Hashimoto said he met dozens of people upon the pilgrimage, including a man who had had a heart attack and was hiking during his post-recovery period with his wife, an American professor who taught Japanese on the island. Monks had offered the couple a place to stay and a bite to eat.

“Many different people take the pilgrimage,” Hashimoto said. “Some people have life-threatening illnesses and walk the trail for enlightenment. I met one man who lost his whole family and has been walking the trail for six months .”

Hashimoto, 62, said he would like to return to the island of Shikoku when he turns 70.

“When I finished the pilgrimage, I felt like I was in heaven,” Hashimoto said. “I felt like a totally different person. Memories diminish, though, and you forget the experience. I’d like to return again at 70, maybe again at 80. Anybody want to join me?”

The audience laughed, with one person adding, “Do you have a sign-up sheet to pass around?”

mdaigle@sunjournal.com

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