Kaihōgyō

Day 4,858, 13:21 • Published in Switzerland Serbia • by Kame S



Running a marathon is very challenging and requires enviable physical fitness, but there are people for whom it is a tradition and a pleasure. And now imagine that instead of once or twice a year, you should run a marathon that lasts a total of 1,000 days spread over seven years.

The marathon called "kaihōgyō" is an incredible challenge reserved only for members of one Japanese branch of Buddhist monks. They dedicate themselves to having a fuller understanding of the entire universe upon completion. The run takes place on Mount Hiei, below which is Kyoto, the old capital of Japan.

The first year of the challenge consists of running 30 km every day for 100 days in a row, but with the performance of regular duties in the temple. When this part is over, the monk has the right to give up the challenge, but if he starts another day of running, he no longer has the right to give up until the end. Traditionally, those who fail to complete the entire marathon take their own lives. That is why there are a huge number of graves of those who ended their lives on this mountain.

After the first hundred days, the challenge continues on the principle of 30 km per day for 100 days in a row for the next two years. Obligations in the temple and prayers remain a regular part of everyday life, and then in the fourth and fifth year, everything continues, but according to the principle of 200 days in a row. Then follows what many call the most difficult part of the adventure, the nine-day ritual of dōiri. At the end of the fifth year, a monk has to survive nine days without food, water and sleep by sitting in a temple on top of Mount Hiei and constantly chanting one mantra while the two observe him. During that, every night he has to bring water from a nearby well and offer it to a Buddha statue.
Those who go further, run 60 km 100 days in a row during the sixth year. The seventh year brings 84 km per day for the first 100 days, and then another 30 km per day until the end of the year. Those who succeed in this, have run a distance approximately equal to the circumference of the Earth.

From 1885 until today, this challenge has been completed by only 46 monks.

Their goal was and remains to approach complete enlightenment and a better understanding of the nature of life.