Every day before sunrise, he arrives at the temple steps, places his feet in his footprints and bends down to pray a few thousand times before walking around the temple.

The footprints are 1.2 inches deep where the balls of his feet have pressed into the wood.

But the years are beginning to make their own mark on his body.

'During the first years I would pray 2,000 to 3,000 times a day. 

'But I have grown older, so in recent years I have only done around 1,000 each day,' he said, adding sheepishly that he could sometimes only manage around 500 in the cold of winter.