Temples 81-83: Up a mountain, Keiko's path and down into the city of Takamatsu.

 

Waking up in the early dawn on the mountain with the beautiful views of the city below was magical. Our tent had kept us safe and snug all night up there on the scenic outlook platform.

Temple 81: Shiromineji: Situated near the summit of Mount Shitomine (white peak), this temple has a sprawling campus. We were welcomed into the temple grounds when it opened up by the most friendly cat I have ever met. The temple had many animal symbols and statues on the grounds. The lady at the Noukyocho office gave us a candy packet gift of "osettai" which was so sweet of her.

From there we walked along the Sanuki Henro Trail National Historic Site. It was a gorgeous nature walk along this trail to Temple 82. The highlight of the morning was stumbling upon a trail- angel cache called "Keiko Cian Osetutai No Jiyo". There were bins stacked up with free drinks, snacks and other items a hiker might need along the way with an information poster: Keiko's father had set up this trail angel station in memory of his daughter who had died of what seems to be cancer as a young child. It was all very moving and choked us up with emotion. Her father wrote:

"This place was built with 3 wishes:

1) that the pilgrims who visit Kagawa Prefecture will complete their pilgrimage in good health.

2) that the children who will be responsible for the future will cherish life.

3) that the support for children who suffer from serious diseases such as childhood cancer or children with disabilities will expand."

What a beautiful place and it puts a real perspective on what we consider to be problems in life.

Temple 82: Negoroji: The glorious nature trail led us right up to the temple along the flanks of the hilltop. We met an interesting character, Jonathan the Scotsman from New Zealand. After a bit of "talk story" on multiple fascinating topics, we parted ways and continued the very long walk down the mountain and then zig zagged through neighborhoods trying to to outhike a rainstorm. I must mention that Josh is a map reader extraordinaire and gets us exactly where we need to be by consulting both the Shikoku pilgrimage guide maps and Google maps simultaneously. I am in awe and just follow him like a puppy!

Temple 83: Ichimomiyaji: The rain abated while we were here and we needed to make a decision about where to go for from there. We decided to continue towards temple 84 and the huge, bustling city downtown area of Takamatsu is where we landed up being for the night. We celebrated by enjoying a very delicious meal at a Nepalese restaurant called "Samjhana" right near our hotel. The hungry henros were tired but satisfied.

Takamatsu is a large port city of 420,000 people  It has a massive covered shopping street, beautiful gardens and spectacular surrounding mountains. We shall journey on to Temple 84 in these surrounding mountains tomorrow.