It took me quite a while… but I have found more and more that letting a pile a pictures from an adventure sit for a while, it gives me a new fresh look at them and lets me choose the best pictures in a more efficient way. When I have just returned, the personal memories of how, when and where a picture was taken are still so overwhelming, that these feelings somewhat overpower the feelings that might emit from a picture when someone else is looking at it. And when I want to create a book, it is of course also for my own memory of the adventure to enjoy years later when looking through it, but it is foremost for other people, people who might be interested in Shikoku, or the O-Henro pilgrimage, yes, who might even be already planning it, or who have done it themselves already… but they can never have or have had the same experiences or feelings that I had when doing it… So a photograph might be meaningful to me for some reason, but it does not come across in the photograph at all when someone else looks at it. So in a sense, for a book the photograph must in itself convey something, and I find it easier to get a feeling for that when I allow myself some time before selecting them…
Long story short, the book was produced as a kind of paperback magazine, so it doesn’t become too thick, heavy and expensive. It has 220 pages, and is divided into five chapters: Getting there, Temple, Landscapes, Townscapes, and Conclusion. There is a little text here and there, but I want this more to be an inspiration for others who might be interested to do something like that themselves, or maybe a picture book that is beautiful to look through for people who have already done the Shikoku pilgrimage themselves. It is definitely not an information repository … those kinds of books and websites exist already.
Here is the link to buy a copy of the book as a paperback printed copy or as a digital pdf: Shikoku 88 Book
Okay, where to go now? Yoshino springs to mind, that’s close to Koyasan… a nice drive through the mountains, I went to see Kimpusen-ji, apparently a famous Buddhist temple, but for my taste it was a pure tourist attraction. A huge old main building, yes, but loads of tourists who were asked to pay 1600 Yen to walk a round inside it to see the treasures… what a change to my Shikoku experience… so I walked around the temple grounds and enjoyed the weather and the views.. The was a nice little Shinto shrine next to it, though, that I did visit, Yoshimizu Shrine, said to be beneficial for dogs, so many came with their little friends, a few brought these cuddle dogs that usually are driven around in strollers originally intended for human kids…
From there I went to Nara, to visit Kasuga-Taisha Shrine and Todai-ji Temple. Driving into this temple district of Nara I realized why there had been so many people on the Yoshino mountain, here were even more… it was a public holiday, the equivalent of Labour Day. I found it not annoying in any way, though, I had expected many people going to a place like Nara, and it was very interesting to see how Japanese spend their holiday… it seems all of them go to the big temples and shrines, as there also is usually beautiful landscaping and scenery, a little spirituality, can’t hurt, and lots and lots of indulgences for the culinary senses… which I enjoyed too..
The next day I went to Kyoto… Fushimi-Inari Shrine was one of my favorites last time I had been there, but this time we had 15 degrees and not 38, so I could walk the whole round under the many many Torii gates all the way to the top shrine on the mountain… It started at the main shrine at the bottom with loads and loads of people, but as I got further up, there were less and less people… so it was a quite enjoyable walk in this beautiful natural setting. From there I went to Toji-ji temple near Kyoto main train station, this was a definite on my list as this was Kobo Daishi’s (Kukai’s) home temple. Now it is still the headquarter of the Shingon Buddhist Sect, but the temple itself is like a museum for tourists. Koyasan is more the spiritual headquarters, I think, there is also the University for the education of new priests. But, at Toji-ji one could see Kukai’s old home, many important old statues, and in the museum also the two huge old mandala wall hangings of the Womb and Diamond realms, a core in Shingon teaching, as well as original text scrolls written by Kukai in the 9th century. Very interesting to see…
In the last afternoon I then spent 2 hours or so in a very nice Jazz Kissa „Train“ in southern Kyoto… Good music on a very old hifi system, a very nice owner – we chatted a lot, and very good coffee.. He also recommended a very nice Onsen, and he was right!
Today was my last full day… which I started off in Arashiyama, in the northwestern corner of Kyoto. The changeable weather made for good photo light, including a beautiful rainbow, and the Tenryu-ji temple was exceptionally beautiful with gorgeous fall colors.. The afternoon I spent at another Jazz Kissa, „Murra“, in eastern Kyoto. Very nice place, nice owner, nice music and hifi system (also very old), and a very tasty homemade curry with rice, plus fresh orange juice, plus, later, a gourmet coffee… In the evening I went to a Roadside station in the mountains near Kameoka, which also has a nice onsen… my last onsen for this year 🙁 but it was good 🙂
This is also my last blog post from this trip… tomorrow it is driving back to Osaka, handing back my rental car, and then off to the airport… the online check-in is already done…
It was a great, great trip! Which I will not forget for the rest of my life. So many great experiences, in so many ways… Thank you, dear readers, for your interest, if you have made it so far to read this… maybe, hopefully, I have inspired one or two of you in some way to do something similar, whatever it may be…
What an intense day! The drive from my last overnight place on Shikoku back towards the main island of Honshu… and then up to Koyasan… the „headquarter“ mountain of Shingon Buddhism, the sect that Kukai founded, the reason people do the Shikoku pilgrimage…
The drive included going back over the beautiful bridges near Naruto and then Akashi, but then came endless highrised highways and bridges, sometimes 4 highways on top of each other and/or crossing each other, flanked by endless city scapes, industrial areas, harbors, container terminals, through the endless stretch of Kobe, Shin-Osaka, Osaka… until finally it got more „normal“ coming into Wakayama prefecture … and then leaving the highways behind, going into the mountains… and then up into the Koya mountain range…
Arriving here around 2:30 PM was perfect… I could talk to the very helpful and friendly Patrick at the tourist information (I remember talking to him 5 years ago when I was last here), could go to the Koyasan Museum, which was free today, and then experience a beautiful sunset around the Daimon, main entry gate of Koyasan at its western entrance…
Strolling back through the main Danjo Garan temple complex while the night was falling… and now I sit here in my van on the parking lot next to the visitor center, where (I asked) I can stay overnight, for free (yes, despite being such a touristy place, the parking lots are free), and the toilet/bathroom is heated! Luxury! But needed, Koyasan is colder than Shikoku, around Danjo Garan I saw small left over piles of snow…
The night was cold! I did manage in my car, but I wanted to drive to Okunoin at 5 in the morning to be there for 5:50 to witness the morning ceremonies, but when I woke up I realized, no way (as the rental car also had no scratcher), all windows were heavily frozen on the outside and the inside. So I went back into my sleeping bag, stood up at 6:30 for kombini breakfast and hot coffee, and then walked calmly to Okunoin, taking many pictures on the way in the rising sun… Okunoin is a very old, very large, very famous, but for me most importantly a very beautiful and atmospheric cemetery, a coupe kilometers long, and leads up to the temple where reportedly Kukai is still sitting in eternal meditation. This is where every Ohenro goes to finish their pilgrimage… What an experience. After the whole Shikoku round, and now here. I sat, after the usual ceremonies, a while longer in front of his mausoleum in meditation… there was no-one else around for quite a while… beautiful.
With the final calligraphies in my book, from Kongobuji, the Shingon main temple, and the Okunoin, my pilgrimage is now finished. And as I was walking along Koyasan, I realized that there was nothing more here for me to do. Also, I had been here twice before, each time for 3-4 days, so everything felt familiar. And it was so full of tourists! So few pilgrims. It is funny how relative our perception is, isn’t it? A few years ago, during our normal vacation travels, I felt Koyasan to be spiritual. Now, after Shikoku, it feels touristy. Strange. Also, the temple lodgings were all fully booked, the few vacancies went for 300€ and up on booking.com… so I could not last minute book into a temple lodging, and it is so cold at night, and that with no public onsen… Long story short, I went down from Koyasan this afternoon, near Hashimoto, went to an Onsen, and have now parked at a nearby roadside station.
I have only a few days left. I think I will spend these more in nature, the forests and mountains near Yoshino and Nara, and maybe Lake Biwa… before I go back to Osaka on Sunday…
What a beautiful day! Sunday, early morning kombini breakfast, and then one of the first at temple 80, Kokubunji, a temple situated in a quite big pine tree forest, one could say, but surrounded by farms and townhouses. A nice atmosphere there in the early morning. Then I visited two mountain temples, 81 Shiromineji, and later on the other side of the same mountain 82, Negoroji. Both beautiful in their own way, very different in setting and character, though. The pictures cannot transport the feeling of being there, though, the largeness of the setting on the mountainside, the huge trees, the atmosphere. It’s Sunday, and as it got later in the morning towards the middle of the day, lots of families with kids, couples and older people flocked to both temples. It seemed more like a nice day out together for them, the Ohenros were the minority today, although I saw many.
Afterwards I went to the top of the mountain I was already on, to a rest area that used to have a restaurant and viewing area, but all that has long been abandoned… kind of lost places feeling… the nice view over the Seto Inland Sea opened up only on the drive down the mountain to Cape Osaki… From there, I was feeling a bit hungry by now, I drove into the outskirts of Takamatsu, one of the 3 major cities on Shikoku. For the most part these cities are expansive areas of small town/village structures, though, so the feeling and driving is as usual on Shikoku. Only when you come into the city center it is like a European city, with 2-4 lanes per direction and taller buildings… My lunch place was a small Ramen restaurant still in the outskirts, though, and it was delicious – I don’t dare to say it anymore, it cost only 4 Euros…
Then it was time for a proper Sunday stroll for myself – and I went to Ritsurin Garden in downtown Takamatsu, one of the most famous big landscape gardens in Japan. Which unfortunately also was the plan of many other people, including several bus tour groups with Chinese tourists… The garden is big, though, so no problem at all..
Of course I finished the day with another temple in the evening, temple 83, Ichinomiyaji, which is a small town temple, quite simple compared to the ones before. In addition to the usual temple halls and features it has an interesting new concrete hall as well, which we could not enter, though.. Then, it was just before 5 PM, it was getting dark… time to drive to my daily onsen, which this time was a small town sento bathhouse with a tiny parking lot, and then I found my space for the night at a nearby roadside station. Maybe because its Sunday, but tonight there are more than 20 camper vehicles here…
Today is Monday, November 20, day 26… which started with a beautiful sunrise (but the camper location was not conductive to a nice photograph, and my camping neighbors, an elderly Japanese couple, treated me with a hot coffee and 2 little croissants). I drove up a little mountain, Yashimasan, to temple 84, Yashimaji, which was beautiful in the early morning sun. Despite it being Monday morning, there was a bus group with Japanese pilgrims already, but I find that always interesting, as they have 2-3 monks with them, and the whole group chants nicely together, which adds to the atmosphere.. These groups consist of mostly elderly people, a few can obviously not walk very well any more, and the group seems to have fun together, too.. I should see this group more than once today… I had a long photo walk around the mountain peak, there were quite a few viewpoints in various directions towards Takamatsu and the Seto Inland Sea…
After same kombini coffee and breakfast it was time to drive up the next mountain on the neighboring peninsula, towards temple 85, Yakuriji. That temple lies up quite a steep slope, in sections up to 27%, so they have made a parking lot half way up, and from there you can take a cable car (or walk). I took the cable car up, and later walked down. The temple is just beautiful. It also has a nice statue with a wide view of the surrounding land.. After the walk down, it was noon, and right there was a little restaurant, where I had some udon with tempura on the side..
Temple 86, Shidoji, lies near the coast on flat land, and is quite large. But how strange… lots of green, but apparently not tended by a gardener, quite wild, in places like a jungle, dotted here and there are temple buildings and statues, even a big wooden pagoda, but some in desperate need of repair.. which they do, there were construction people working on a temple hall, on the bell tower, and there were heavy machines… so it is being worked on, but man, it needs a lot more. It almost looks like it was abandoned and is now being restored, I don’t know.. But the sheer amount of green gave it a nice atmosphere nonetheless, it felt almost natural… so who knows, maybe that’s the way they want it?
In stark contrast, temple 87, Nagaoji, had in the part that is accessible to pilgrims/the public only a big empty area and the three obligatory buildings, Hondo, Daishido, and the temple office. No green at all.. well, at the office there was a little, and then you could kind of see that behind there were more temple buildings, apparently also with plants..
Now, as you can see by the numbers… the end of the pilgrimage is drawing near… only one to go… As it was not even 3 yet, I decided to do it and finish the temples today. So I went to temple 88, Okuboji, which was up in the mountains again, and with the late afternoon sun it was nice up there. There was also a bus group again, one of the elder men in the group asked me how long the Ohenro had taken me, congratulated me… and as the group was getting ready to chant at the Daishido hall, I used that opportunity and simply joined them… I did the chanting at the Hondo after that, no problem.. Strange, to now have all the stamps and calligraphies in that little pilgrims book… in the end it went so fast… I can almost not believe that it should be over now… After the usual onsen I am now sitting here in my van at a roadside station by a beach park… Now that I’m finished with the temple round already, I have a few days left, and Koyasan is so beautiful and nice with all the temples and trees… maybe I will go there for a few days to round out and properly finish the pilgrimage…
What a day. It started with a little drizzle, when I walked up from my sleeping place through the forest up the stairs to temple 71, Iyadaniji. A very mystic atmosphere, and a great mountain temple, with several buildings spread over a few levels on the side of a mountain. At the time I was the only pilgrim there, and could enjoy the sounds of the rain, the birds, the temple bell… but the highlight was, that one could walk into the Daishido hall (shoes off, of course), and sit there when reciting the heart sutra, after hitting a big meditation bell that was sitting there on its cushion and stand.. and then, the monk motioned me to go behind the altar, where there was another room, carved into the mountain like a cave.. with statues of Kukai, a bell, incense holder… so the same ritual there, almost inside the cave. What a magical experience. I did take a photo, but only show below the side view into the room, not into the cave itself… for that you have to go there yourself 😉 When I came out of this temple hall, it started pouring down. What an atmosphere, in that setting…
Then the obligatory kombini breakfast, and onto temples 72 and 73. I walked from temple 72 to 73 and back, as they are quite close together. Oh, what I wanted to tell earlier but forgot… back around temple 60 or so I started reading the English version of the heart sutra instead of the Japanese one… even though I knew the content more or less, it is very different when reciting words again and again that you actually understand! I must say, it is deepening my experience at the temples, for sure.
Okay, then I drove to temple 74… yes, it was a temple day. By now the sun had made its appearance, and it was almost T-Shirt weather, but a little chilly with the increasing wind… When arriving at temple 75, Zentsuji, I knew it was a big complex, as it is Kukai’s birthplace, and the town, Zentsuji, developed around it, so.. consequently, there was a big parking lot, with entrance gate and staff, several buses parked and numerous cars, and when entering the temple grounds, it was clear that this is a huge complex… groups of, I guess, priests came with suitcases, other groups of men in suits and women in costumes walked into a big building for an event… the main hall, Hondo, is a huge wooden hall with a big golden Buddha statue in it…
After some lunch at a simple restaurant next to the temple, I had a Buddhist pilgrimage break, and went to visit Kotohira Shrine. Which itself is also a huge complex – built on the slope of a whole mountain. The Omotesando street lined with shops, restaurants and cafes leads up to it, over several hundred steps of stairs, which then continued inside the actual shrine, with Torii gates, long lines of stone lanterns, huge shrine buildings, and then more stairs up the mountain for the next level with shrine buildings, and further up to the next level… And there were a lot of people there, school groups, company groups, and many other people, young and old, couples, and lots of tourists, also many Chinese ones.. While in the shrine, the rain got heavier, then hail, then the sun came out again, and on the way down again rain, hail, storm and finally lightning and thunder, with storm and hail and rain… so the troops scattered, and somehow disappeared… I went back to the car, and drove to my nightly onsen and sleeping camper car park…
Tomorrow I will continue with temple 76 and on… which makes me realize, that this pilgrimage is slowly but surely coming to an end… As I am one day ahead of my schedule, and that schedule was very relaxed in the end anyway, I am thinking of going for the last few days to Koyasan again (as one should do anyway to properly finish the pilgrimage)… We will see..
During the night it continued with storm, rain and I guess hail… it sounded heavy, I just hoped that the hail bits were not getting bigger to not turn my rental van into a big golf ball.. That luckily did not happen, but the storm and rain did not want to stop.. it was raining diagonally while I was having breakfast. This time I was sitting in the kombini’s sitting area, charging up my laptop and powerbank fully for once. When I drive, I have various things to charge, my phone, for navigation, the wifi-router for internet, and the camera batteries so I can keep taking pictures…
So my day at temple 76 started a little bit later. It was still very windy and chilly, though, and while waiting in the line for the calligraphy in our books, a Japanese Ohenro showed me pictures on her phone from this morning with snow on the street. Temple 77 was a small and simple town temple.
I then went so see Marugame castle, on a hill with a moat and lots of surrounding stone walls.. and a nice (stormy) view from the top level, but I did not see the concrete tower structure from inside. Then came temple 78, where it was so windy that lighting a candle or incense stick was impossible, so I decided to take a sightseeing break… Temple 78 had a nice feature, though, a kind of underground crypt with thousands of little golden buddha and bodhisattva statues, once a a while a bigger one, with lamps and incense… all very dark and mystical… there I could light my incense sticks and put them in the holder bowl…
So, I went to the seaside, to a nice cafe for lunch, overlooking the Seto Inland Sea and the Seto Bridge… and then next door into the Shikoku Aquarium. Very nice, and lots of (young) people, lots of young couples, and families with kids, it is Saturday after all…
Finally I closed the day with the last temple for today, temple 79, but this was a very simple, almost inactive feeling temple. Had it not been for the old ladies and men doing the evening cleanup, I would have thought it was abandoned… there were other Ohenros too, though, so I felt reassured that I was in the right place… Just my feeling… but as the heart sutra suggests… all that is emptiness, so don’t worry be happy… Now I am really happy, after a nice soak in the local onsen, and finally setting up camp for the night…
Today started off cloudy, but interesting looking, which is good for the photographs. Of course, kombini breakfast, and then a one hour drive to temple 65, Sankakuji. This is a beautiful mountain temple, nicely sitting in the forest, and the layout and gardens of the temple are beautifully laid out and kept up. From there, again a one hour drive, to temple 66, Unpenji, which stands out for a few reasons, one, it is actually situated in Tokushima right behind the border, although we are in Kagawa prefecture now on our pilgrimage round, two, it is the highest of all 88, sitting at 890 meters, and third, I found it strange.. as most main temple buildings are made of concrete. (Other temples have this, too, but here it seemed strange, in the nice mountain forest setting, and then so new and of concrete. Maybe it burned not so long ago, but I could not find such info.. What I found very interesting at temple 66 were the many stone statues (over 200), all of different people with completely different postures and features…
In the afternoon I went down the mountain, and followed the Yoshino river up into Oboke valley with its beautiful gorges. I also had a very good curry udon soup there, and as a side-dish grilled Amego river fish. Hmm, oishi katta desu! I then drove through Iya valley back to Miyoshi, and through a long tunnel back into Kagawa prefecture, to a roadside station not far from temple 67, where tomorrow the tour will continue…
Starting today, day 22, again with a kombini breakfast with a sunrise, I then started with temple 67, and then 68 and 69 – the two are on the same spot. Very nice, temple 68 with a new concrete structure, but this was so cubic that it looked good (in contrast I find the concrete buildings, that are made to look like they are constructed out of wood, very strange).
Then I went into town (Kan-onji) for a little bit. Firstly to get some nice lunch (a big meal with udon noodle soup, various vegetables and pickles, mushroom rice, and a few tempura, plus some mochi dessert, and a tea of course, all for 9 €. And it was good! Then I managed to finish my gift (omiyage) shopping, some things to bring home for my wife and my helping-out students… Puhh, finally that is off my list, for some reason I did not find the right shops on my trip so far…
On my way I found a nice little waterfall, which I had all to myself – good for setting up the tripod in the middle of the bridge… The last temple for today was a beautiful temple 70, with a nice 5-story pagoda, and then I went to Chichibugahama beach, Instagram-famous for its water puddles in which you can take reflection pictures… but the sky would have to be nice, too, but unfortunately a sunset was not to be seen… Anyway, a successful day altogether, with a good overall vibe… as I am still sitting here in my car at the beach as I am writing this in the slowly starting rain… but now I am off to the nearby roadside station, which also has an onsen…
Today, day 19, started with a drive up the mountain towards temple 60. It was again a very winding and often one-car-narrow road. It occurred to me, as it had several times, that this driving the O-Henro in a Van, on the „wrong“ side of the road, sitting on the „wrong“ side in the car, and then navigating though the Japanese traffic finding your temples, kombinis and sleeping places, is most likely not for everybody. And then sleeping somewhere in a dark parking lot, near a temple, or like today at a highway roadside station, is also not for everyone. This is my kind of Kungfu, so to speak, with all its complexities, inconveniences, and tricky situations… I like it very much, though. Others prefer hiking, its simplicity compared to the car thing, but then with other inconveniences like walking in the rain, getting tired but needing to reach the hotel, needing to find a place to sleep, often with the need to book it in advance… this is their Kungfu… Also, in favor of my choosing the car thing, is that this way I do not have to carry my 5 kilos of camera gear plus tripod, in addition to all my clothing etc..
So, back to temple 60, a very nice mountain temple, where I spent over an hour hiking around its premises to a small shrine in the forest, and a nice view with a Torii gate.. only it was raining, so not so much of a view.. Then followed temples 61, 62 and 63, all not so remarkable in my eyes. But then, in the afternoon, I reached temple 64, which is very beautiful. Again I finished early today, as I am still well ahead of my planned itinerary… and I don’t need to finish the O-Henro too early. So I went to the Onsen by 3 already, and I am already in bed now at 8 finishing the last thoughts for today…
When yesterday was basically all temples, today there were none. Instead, as the weather forecast was for nice sunshine, I went to climb Ishizuchisan, with almost 2000 meters the highest mountain on Shikoku. The night in the camper was cold (4 degrees), but going to the ropeway base station in the mountains for the first cablecar at 8:40, it was not getting warmer. The top of the mountain at that time was -5. We could see the snow on the trees up there… so starting the hike at the mountain station was at 1300 meters, then up to 1400, and down again to 1300, before the actual climb started up to 1955 meters… and as we expected, most of the climb was with snow or ice on the stones, steps and boards.. so everyone was very careful… I had a hard time with the climb, it was much tougher than Tsurugisan 2 weeks ago. And it was really cold, most of it was in the shadow side of the mountain, but the hard climb meant sweeting a lot… so you could not really loose layers, or the hat… that was too cold with the wet skin… but, hey, I made it, and arrived around 13:30 at the sunlit summit.. Yeah! Resting, looking, some onigiri and a drink, lots of pictures, and then down again, not so exhausting, but one had to be even more careful, as most steps were still covered in snow mixed with ice… Made it to the 4 PM cable car down the mountain… then some kombini dinner, and, you guessed it, Onsen…
Today was a rainy day. I wouldn’t want to switch places with the walking Henros… if not already for all that walking along paved roads, often with traffic constantly going by (yes, by now I have seen quite a few walking Henros).. but doing that in the rain all day long… no thank you…
I had my „camper“ outside temple 48 last night, so I was one of the first to visit it. Very quiet, the sound of the rain on the leaves and roofs, and on my umbrella, one of those clear almost see-through Japanese ones… very nice atmosphere, despite or rather with the rain… Then I went to the nearby Kombini, in this case a Family Mart, for a coffee and some breakfast.. On to temples 49, 50 and finally 51. After some more snacks and coffee, I went to see Matsuyama castle (I forgot to mention, all those temples lead me into Matsuyama). Very nice, a long walk through a forest up the castle hill, in slight rain, and then this magnificent castle, again one of the 12 still standing/original ones. Maybe because Shikoku is a little out of the way that here there is a more than fair share of those original castle towers compared to the few others spread all over the rest of Japan. So by now I have seen 5 out of the 12 (in earlier Japan visits Himeiji and Matsumoto, and now Kochi, Uwajima and Matsuyama). In the castle visitors restaurant I had a very good bowl of hot nabe udon, very much appreciated in this kind of weather…
The evening ended, you guessed it, with an Onsen visit, and now I am „camping“ outside temple 52… Tomorrow the rain is forecasted to end (it has already)… I’ll keep my fingers crossed that this is only a sporadic occurrence during this Shikoku round trip…
Today, first at 7 visiting temple 52, very mystic in the forest… but then the sun came over the hills.. Some coffee and breakfast at Lawson Kombini… and we were back to T-shirt weather, yeah! Then temple 53, and it followed a beautiful drive along the coast to the Seto inland sea, subtropical summer vacation feeling… Lunch at a nice Burger place overlooking the sea.. yes, I know, burger, but this was Japanese style and quality, and with avocado and chicken, so it was really okay.. and I had a nice chat with my Japanese eating-neighbor… when my Japanese conversation partner is willing to understand, we can have a quite nice conversation even with my limited Japanese.. I had a similar experience two days ago when climbing up to temple 45.. the 71 year-old Japanese lady had decided that I must be able to understand and speak Japanese, and didn’t let me off the hook… which lead to a very nice talk also…
Okay, back on the road, and into Imabari, I did not expect it to be so city-like, but no problem with the driving, I find most towns and even smaller cities (including Matsuyama, which has as many inhabitants as Frankfurt) I find these are more like villages or small towns structurally, including some very narrow streets, they are just more expansive area-wise.. Here I visited temples 54 and finally 55, before heading into the city center on foot to see Imabari castle. The grounds and overall design are impressive, one of the biggest water castles (with seawater surrounding it) in Japan, but the castle tower was a concrete reconstruction. It had a nice view from the top floor, though! Finally, after the usual Onsen, which was the biggest I have yet been to, I am back in my van, on the parking lot of temple 55, because it is really quiet here, although in the middle of town, and it has toilets that are open all night…
Day 18, slight morning rain, off to the Kombini for breakfast, and on to temple 56. Beautiful surroundings.. and a nice view.. I continued with temples 57, 58 and finally 59… before I decided to call it a day, it was only 11 o’clock, but it is Sunday, and I needed a break. So I went to a mid-day Onsen visit, followed by a nice lunch there, tonkatsu with salad, rice and miso, and an alcohol-free beer… all for 1300 Yen, so around 9 Euros. Eating here is generally very affordable, as are drinks and snacks at the kombinis, parking is (almost) always free (I only twice had to pay in front of Ozu and Uwajima castles, the equivalent of about 2 Euros each), and never ever does one have to pay for using a toilet (and still they are cleaner than in Germany)…
The afternoon and evening were spent at the beach photographing, having a coffee and sweat snack… and ended with, again, onsen, before settling for the night at a nearby roadside station. For some reason I am not the only one here this time.. I estimate around 20 vans here…
Day 13, waking up to a very windy morning, I walked to temple 40 from my overnight parking spot. Now in Ehime prefecture, the weather is a bit more changeful… but I am sure that has nothing to do with Ehime… Beautiful seaside villages, bays with lots of fish farming (easy to see by the hundreds if not thousands colorful buoys that are dotting the shimmering waters), rough mountains covered in forests that reach right into the ocean… if humans had not carved a road into the side of the mountain so we can drive around the island… And whenever there is a more flat area, there are houses, farms, villages. Not much land can be inhabited here, more than 70% are rough mountains. Which also makes for interesting driving… lots of winding mountain roads, very often so narrow that only one car can go here, lots of mirrors so you can see around the corner, and always hoping that not suddenly a big truck is trying to make its way there, which they do…
On my way up the west coast I found a river valley, Yakushitani, with a beautiful hike up to various little waterfalls… which took me quite a while because of the many photo spots… what a nice hike! After that, for a change, a real town, Uwajima, with a nice castle tower (still the old wooden structure). In the evening I still managed to visit temples 41 and 42, since they are so close together.. After that.. Onsen, and finding an overnight parking spot at a roadside station.
Wednesday, day 14, November 8th, started with a beautiful morning drive to temple 43.. and then further to Ozu town. There I saw a big church when driving into the towns surrounding hills, and when checking it out I found, what I suspected, that this exists for the sole purpose of fulfilling some rich modern Japanese couples dreams of getting married like westerners in a white dress walking down a church aisle … a huge complex, with its own hotel and banquet hall… I wonder what getting married here must cost…
Ozu castle, in comparison rather small, is noteworthy still, since it was quite man effort, with lots of money donated by the towns inhabitants, and with artisans and craftsmen reviving the old techniques of re-constructing the old castle tower with its original plans, materials used, wooden joints and all… (In Meiji times, many castles were destroyed/dismantled, in an effort to break the old samurai/daimyo rule in a visible form… only to have many realize a few decades later what had been done… but so much was lost forever)..
The day ended with a visit to the beautiful mountain temple number 44. Then, you guessed it, driving to an Onsen, and then a parking spot for the night, which I found right across the street by the river.. with public toilets (I always try to find a parking space that has toilets, either public ones or the temple toilets in case of temple parking)..
Now today, Thursday, day 15, started with a long hike up the forest path towards mountain temple 45. What a beautiful hike, forest and temple! I spent over 2 hours there, followed by more along the river in the valley below… so although I went up the mountain at 7, it was 11 when I got back to the car and drove on…
Now getting to the outskirts of Matsuyama City, I visited temple 46, and walked to temple 47 and back to the car, since they are only 1km apart..
Then I had a little adventure trying to wash my clothes at a coin laundry… asking a lady there who was just getting her clothes out of one of the machines, to find that I first had to go to a Kombini store to get some detergent, and then come back, and trying to figure out what all the Japanese instructions on the machines said… but in the end it was pretty straight forward. One hour later all my clothes were clean and dry.. And, since it was almost 5 by then, no more temple for today… No problem, I was in cleaning mode anyway… so off to the nearest Onsen, and calling it a day… No I am sitting here in my car, parked outside temple 48…
Now well into Kochi prefecture, this part of the O-Henro pilgrimage is called the stage of perseverance… while this might be stemming from the walking pilgrimages‘ hardships in these parts, lots of kilometers between temples, long distances without convenience stores or places to stay, it also tests ones perseverance because the newness and „wow-ness“ of doing the O-Henro, and being in Shikoku with its landscape, small towns, the food, the occasional onsen.. all this becomes „normal“ now, to some extent each day is just more of the same… also for me, even though I am traveling by camper car, the same applies.. not so much the availability of stores or places to stay, but the routine. Also with my photography… the „wow-ness“ of Shikoku is now kind of gone, and I really have to be here and now and tune into the moment to see everything fresh and find motives for my photographs… to stay interested, to keep enjoying it…
Day 9 I travelled further along the Kochi coastline and entered now the Kochi City area. Here the temples are closer together, and I spent the day visiting temples 28 to 32, while enjoying the drive through the beautiful countryside and towns along the way. I also enjoyed the Ryugado Cave very much, a huge system of big limestone caves joined through sometimes very narrow pathways… a 30 minute walkthrough… plus photo time of course.. the sunset I could enjoy from up top at temple 32.
On day 10 I visited temple 33 and then went into Kochi City to visit Kochi castle (one of only 12 original wood and stone castles still standing in Japan, the others are also nice, but reconstructions mostly of concrete). Then I went north into the backcountry driving up very narrow roads along a river to arrive at Taruno Waterfall… Followed by visiting temple 34, and then again along another river to Ino town to visit the paper museum, which was very interesting, and I could also hands-on produce my own few sheets of washi paper. I enjoyed this museum very much and can only recommend it.. They day ended, like every day, with a thorough soaking in an Onsen and then finding a space to set up car-camp at Katsurahama beach park…
The night spent right next to the beach at a lonely parking space.. I rose at 5:50 like every day to see the sunrise, and then continued with my usual trip to 7-Eleven (or Lawson, or Family Mart) for a hot coffee and some breakfast, and continued with temple 35. Driving along the coastline, I met a fellow Henro at a vista parking spot, an older gentlemen from the US who travelled the route on bicycle! When we got talking, I found to my amazement that he is one of the authors of the famous little guidebook „Shikoku Japan 88 Route Guide“ probably every international Henro has, his name is Tom Ward, and I enjoyed our talks very much… I say talks, because we met again at temple 36. After temple 37, Iwamotoji, where I could buy some presents for the people home, I went up the Shimanto river valley for a scenic drive, and finally found an Onsen and a place to stay…
Now today, day 12, started again with a beautiful sunrise, this time with beautiful clouds, and then followed by some more clouds, storm, and the occasional rain shower… on my trip down the coast towards tropical temple 38. Lots of interesting and photo worthy coastline, with sea stacks and waves pounding… onto temple 39, after which I found my daily Onsen and the place for tonight… where I am now writing and uploading this blog article… Tomorrow we will have a little more rain (I am hearing thunder right now), but the day after it is forecasted to be back to the late-summer like conditions I enjoyed so far…
