A hakoguruma for a parent and child

Even now, hakoguruma remain quietly along the route of the Shikoku 88 pilgrimage. Three are preserved at Byodoji, and one each at Eifukuji, Daihoji, and Okuboji. They are tools that still carry the memory of prayer across time.

A hakoguruma is a wooden cart built so that a person can lie inside while someone else pulls or pushes it forward. It has something in common with a modern wheelchair, but each one also carries a very personal story of hope and petition.

Here we focus on the hakoguruma dedicated in the main hall of Byodoji by Tsutsui Rinnosuke and trace the journey shared by father and son.

At first glance, the hakoguruma preserved at Byodoji looks like an old wooden box. But in its worn grain is the prayer of Tsutsui Rinnosuke, a blacksmith from Tosa Jizojimura, and of his father Fukuji, etched there in 1923.

It originally had three wheels and was built so that Rinnosuke could continue the Shikoku pilgrimage while lying inside it. It became the vessel that carried a family's hope.

In 1921, when he was thirty-one, Rinnosuke was struck by a spinal illness. Paralysis spread through his lower body and then further upward. His father Fukuji sought out doctors and every treatment he could find, but the condition only deepened.

Fukuji then used everything he had as both a blacksmith and a father to build a hakoguruma in which his son could lie. Starting from Kiyotakiji, temple thirty-five, the two began their pilgrimage together.

In October 1923, after moving through Ehime, Kagawa, and Tokushima, father and son arrived at Byodoji, temple twenty-two of the pilgrimage. They stayed for four weeks, drank the sacred water associated with Kobo Daishi, and received prayer and blessing from the chief priest of the time, Taniguchi Shinryo.

Little by little, sensation is said to have returned to Rinnosuke's body, until at last he could stand with the help of a kongozue staff. In deep gratitude, the two dedicated the hakoguruma that had sustained his life to Yakushi Nyorai, the principal Buddha of Byodoji.

In recent years, mistaken stories about hakoguruma have sometimes circulated. But the hakoguruma preserved at Byodoji was not a device for abandoning the unwanted. It is the record of a father and son who refused to surrender hope.

At Daihoji, Eifukuji, and Okuboji, hakoguruma with different backgrounds are also preserved. Each one carries its own memory of pilgrimage and prayer.

As the story of Rinnosuke's recovery suggests, Byodoji has long been trusted as a temple of special blessing for the health of the legs and hips. The hakoguruma is both a memory from the past and a symbol of prayer that continues today.

Byodoji currently grants a special protective charm for leg and hip health that has received temple prayer. Shaped like a straw sandal, it is made by staff with sincere care using rice straw from the temple's sacred rope project.

For elderly people and for those who live far away, online prayer for leg and hip health is also available. During the morning service, the chief priest reads each name aloud in prayer and sends the blessed charm afterward.

The suggested offering is 3,000 yen, including the charm and shipping.

Apply for prayer for strong legs and hips

Gassho