(Enson Inoue, shown here during a rare outpouring of genuine emotion. PicProps: Tune-In Tokyo)
In case any of you missed the reports this morning that former Pride fighter, weed enthusiast and rumored Yakuza Enson Inoue has embarked on a 1,200-kilometer spiritual journey on the Japanese island of Shikoku, here’s the Spark Notes version: Inoue is attempting to complete the island’s celebrated “88 Temples Pilgrimage,” in which travelers don white clothes and sedge hats in order to retrace the steps of a famous Buddhist monk said to have made the journey in the latter stages of the eighth century. Given that it’s now 2010, most people do it by bus, but that’s apparently not old-school enough for Inoue. He plans to walk the nearly 750 miles, even though he’s been warned that he might die from the heat.
Also, since no 21st-Century spiritual journey would be complete without continuous, near real-time commentary from the pilgrim himself, Inoue is going to be updating his blog the whole way. Anyway, it’s now day two of the walk and so far, things don’t seem to be going so well …