Sogaku Taguchi, a 31-year-old Japanese monk, has begun a planned 12 years of isolation in a mausoleum at Enryakuji temple on Mount Hiei, near Kyoto. The training is intended to prepare him to become a “jishin”, a monk devoted to tending the tomb of Saicho, founder of Tendai Buddhism; he is expected to remain cut off from people and outside information until 11 September 2038.

Taguchi’s daily duties include rising before dawn to prepare offerings, reciting sutras, performing 3,000 prostrations and maintaining the mausoleum and its gardens. The demanding routine allows little sleep and takes place in a mountain climate with severe winter cold; the article says some monks have died before completing the training. Taguchi is reported to be the 118th jishin since records began in 1699 and only the eighth to undertake it in the past 80 years.