Shikoku 88 – Days 13 to 15

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…