Shikoku 88 – Days 21 and 22
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…
