Shikoku 88 – Days 9 to 12
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…
