Ekai Kawaguchi in Tibet (1897)
The Japanese Buddhist monk, Ekai Kawaguchi was able to enter Tibet at a time when it was closed to foreigners. Disguised as a Tibetan lama, he walked 2,490 miles in Tibet, from the summer of 1900 to the summer of 1903. He recounts his travels in the book Three Years in Tibet, which was published by Book Faith India, Delhi in 1995 (ISBN 81-7303-036-7).
Ekai Kawaguchi was teacher of Yamada Mumon Roshi, one of the great Rinzai Zen masters of the twentieth century.
A biography of Kawaguchi is available on the web site of the Japanese Embassy in Nepal.
In 2004, David and his 18-year old daughter Allison visited the Mustang region of Nepal. We visited the village of Marpha on the Kali Gandaki river, a place where Ekai Kawaguchi has visited nearly 200 years earlier. Photos of our trip can be found here.
A photo of the author in 1909 (Frontispiece to Three Years in Tibet)
Map of the author's travels in Tibet, Sikkim and India from 1897 to 1903
Excerpts from the book, Three Years in Tibet
Chapter_XXII 22,650 Feet above Sea-level
Chapter_XXIII I Survive a Sleep in the Snow