Temple 70-76: Out of Ehime and into Kagawa

We awoke from our tent camp at Temple 69 at 0430 am and broke camp in respect of the permission granted to us by the temple monk to sleep on the grounds. Before day break we departed, leaving no trace in gratitude for a safe place to camp.

By 0530am we were hiking the trail, along a river and into the villages to visit the neighborhood temples on the pilgrimage route. The weather today was perfect for walking and we enjoyed a spectacular sunrise. 

Temple 70: Motoyamaji: In 807 Kukai founded this temple.We arrived before it opened and enjoyed the ambiance before the Noukyocho office opened.

The rest of the day was spent weaving
through neighborhoods interspersed with with some wild areas. 

Temple 71:Iyadaniji: Originally called Eight Province Temple" because from here you can see eight surrounding provinces. It is situated on the side of a hill and needless to say it required climbing many, many steps to reach it.

Temple 72: Mandalaji: This temple was built in 596. This was the clan temple for the Saeki family, the ancestors of Kukai (Kobo Daishi).

After leaving temple 71 we were directed by the arrows and waymarkers onto a nature walk through a bamboo forest for awhile. At some point in the walk we connected with Charlotte from Holland who joined us for the rest of the day until Temple 75. The day was filled with delightful conversation as we weaved our way through neighborhoods from one temple to the next.

Temple 73: Shusshakaji: Stands at the bottom of the imposing Mount Gahaishi. From the temple is an expansive view over the plains.

We sat here with Charlotte and enjoyed a lunch of orange pieces, candy cheese and Pringles, discussing our life journeys that had lead up to this point.

Temple 74: Koyamaji: Temple of the Helmet Mountain: Continuing on for the day with great conversation, we meandered on, avoiding the pitfalls of falling into the drainage canals along the sides of the roads and enjoying the local architecture, dykes and food growing lots along the way.

Temple 75: Zentsuji: The Temple of the Right Path: This was the first Shingon Temple in Japan and the birth place of Kukai. It's the largest temple complex in Shikoku and counted as one of the three great sacred places of Kukai (Kobo Daishi). The five story pagoda was completed in 1902 and is 40m tall. There are 509 stone statues called Arhats which represent people who have achieved a high degree of Buddhist enlightenment.

At this point we departed from Charlotte and had to fast hike to get to Temple 76 before it closed for the day. 

Temple 76: Konzoji: The Temple of the Golden Storehouse: founded in 774, the same year Kukai was born. The Noukyocho office shut its doors as Josh exited the building. He got locked in the bathroom by the grounds and who wanted to get home asap and had to pound on the door to be released. 

As we sat outside the temple grounds in the evening we tried to book an hotel but it was a Saturday and everything was booked out. We searched on the Internet and then searched again in desperation, wondering where we would sleep that night, being in town with no camping options. Sunset was approaching fast. Suddenly, Josh found the only room available on the Internet and booked it real fast. We were elated as this was the only available hotel room in town. As we arrived we started noticing unusual situations. There was no front entrance to the hotel. We had to enter through the parking garage and the car parking bays had curtains. We found this to be unusual. We found our way to the front desk which was closed but as soon as we approached, a lady appeared out of nowhere from behind a curtain. She only spoke Japanese and told us via a translator app that if we needed anything we had to dial her number. She took us to our room and told us that it was keyless and that the doors were on auto lock. As we sat down in our room, we realized that we were locked in which was creepy. The only thing we could think is that we were not meant to make contact with other patrons. The whole thing was crazy but we were exhausted and just needed to lay out heads down for the night after 13 hours of hiking. The room was huge with a giant bed, a giant bath tub, a love seat and table, so who's complaining....