Photo/Illutration The gateway for escaping suffering, also inscribed with “the path of three mitsu,” stands on Mount Takaosan in western Tokyo. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

I rode a cable car last week to the end of the line near the summit of Mount Takaosan in Tokyo’s western suburbs to see a stone gateway marked “Sanmitsu no Michi” (literally, path of three “mitsu”).

Curious to find out the origin of this name, I visited the nearby Yakuoin temple and met with Kosho Kamimura, 42, the manager of temple affairs.

“The name is entirely unrelated to the novel coronavirus,” Kamimura said. “This gateway presents the doctrine of esoteric Shingon Buddhism.”

The three mitsu are for “shinmitsu,” “kumitsu” and “imitsu,” which denote, respectively, the need to strive for “righteous deeds,” “rightful words” and “rightful thoughts.”

The combination refers to something entirely different from sanmitsu, the pandemic-era buzzword that warns against the “three Cs” of closed, crowded and close-contact settings.

Shingon Buddhism holds that since deeds, words and thoughts can lead us astray, humans must control them as taught by the Buddha.

Kamimura said the temple erected this gateway seven years ago to familiarize visitors to the mountain with this precept.

In early spring last year, the prime minister and prefectural governors started urging the public to avoid sanmitsu settings.

At the time, this was met with bemusement in the Shingon community, Kamimura recalled.

“Our faith has nothing to do with the pandemic,” one believer declared. Another feared that the public may misinterpret the Shingon doctrine.

But as the pandemic dragged on, Kamimura said, the community came to agree that the inscription could offer a perfect opportunity for getting the public to take an interest in the Buddha’s teaching.

After leaving the temple and walking up the mountain path, I came across a crowd of people in front of an Olympic monument on the summit of Takaosan.

I was stunned that these people appeared oblivious to the danger of crowding.

The monument is said to have been erected 100 days before the opening of the Tokyo Olympics.

Staffers kept telling visitors to not stop and keep walking.

The government insists that pedestrian traffic is decreasing. I don’t believe that for a second.

Tokyo logged new COVID-19 cases in excess of 3,000 on July 28.

Is it really possible to carry through with the Olympics in this situation?

On my way home, I passed through the gateway again and saw it was also inscribed with kanji characters that mean “the gateway for escaping suffering.”

I walked down the mountain, praying for humanity to escape the scourge of the novel coronavirus.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 29

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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