Posted on the New York Times:
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 10, 2007
In Japan, Buddhist monks wear black. Dead people wear white.
For more than seven years, Genshin Fujinami dressed in white from head to toe while covering the backwoods trails of this sacred mountain in one of the world’s most grueling feats — a punishing quest that combined starvation, isolation and the equivalent of a lap around the Equator.
For 1,000 days, rising well before dawn, Fujinami embarked alone, rain or shine, on his journey, running or briskly walking more than 50 miles — the distance of almost two marathons — each day as the trial neared its climax. Along with his white robes, his only gear was a pair of straw sandals, a long straw hat, candles, a shovel, a length of rope and a short sword.
Full story in the New York Times
Other reading: Natalie Goldberg’s Long Quiet Highway: Waking Up in America
Related Links on this site: The Marathon Monks: Stretching the Limits of Human Endurance By Don Allison
Be the first to comment