Temple 18-19

Day 6: Icy wind and rain to Temple 18-19

We left our comfy hotel room and braved the icy wind and rain onto Highway 55 out of Tokushima. It really does something to your mind to have gone so far already and loop back into the city we got off the bus at.... but that’s the way the trail goes.

As we pushed our way through stiff cold winds that bent our umbrellas backwards and braced against cars and trucks rushing past us, spraying us with puddle water we tried to keep our chins up and weather the storm. By the time we reached Temple 18 (Onzanji) the wind had stopped and the sun was out. Originally this temple was off limits to women but Kukai changed that, allowing his mother to enter the temple. Great guy fighting for women’s rights in 800’s.

The route to Temple 19 (Tatsueji) took us through a beautiful bamboo forest and then farmlands lined with orange trees which we sampled as we walked. 

Our feet were squelching in our wet shoes and socks and Henro-san Josh had developed a nasty blister on one of his toes. We found a secluded spot at the temple to remove our shoes and try to dry them out a bit. As we were sitting in our “hidden” spot, a lady visiting the temple came up to us and gave us ossetai in the form of little bags of nuts and shortbread cookies. She then asked whether we would mind if she photographed us... and of course we didn’t mind. Kindness prevails! A little later she appeared again and handed me a brand new small towel and tried to give me a pair of socks. I graciously accepted the towel but literally had no space in my backpack for more socks.

An extremely long road walk ensued as we made our way towards a Henro hut within a couple of kilometers of Temple 20. Upon arrival  in the dark, we found another Henro was already camping in the hut, so we pitched our tent beneath some trees on a  level-ish area beside the hut.

We have hiked 26km today... only just getting into the groove.

We fell asleep to the hooting of an owl outside our tent... my aumakua is with me.

Temple 13-17

 Day 5: Temple 13-17

We awoke to the sound of a monk chanting early morning sutras at Temple 13 (Dainichiji) and quickly packed up our tent. Across the street is is a beautiful shrine associated with this temple.

Temple 14 (Jorakuji) was a quick 2.5 km from 13. It is said that if a diabetic person prays and drinks the boiled leaves of the Yew tree beside the main hall, they will be cured.... I’m going to research the medical quality of yew tree leaves when I get home. We saw a henro we had met in the mountains from Tokyo and met Gerard from Holland.

Temple 15 (Kokubunji) was burnt to the ground in the 1500’s, rebuilt now. On the grounds are foundation stones from the original seven story pagoda and out back was a Japanese garden. We received ossetai candy treats from a lady in the grounds and the woman working in the noukyosho office gave us one of her brocade name slips (she has done the henro 146 times)!

Along the way I went into a beauty store to buy some facial sunblock and the sweetest lady working there gave me so many samples because I told her I needed a small tube... more ossetai!

Temple 16 and 17 were all within 3-4km of each other and we trotted through them, stopping off at a 7/11 along the way to buy food and get WiFi. Another essential stop was a laundromat were henro-San Josh discovered his hiking shoes were coming apart... this could be somewhat of a disaster but fortunately we found a sports store and henro-san Josh bought a new pair. We treated ourselves to a night in a hotel to replenish and recuperate.

Today was a long day of paved road and dodging traffic, our feet are sore, we’re developing blisters and I just needed a soak in a hot bath. Goodnight from Shikoku.

A Temple in the mist

Day 4: A Temple in the mist

We awoke to pouring rain at 04:30 am and broke up our camp under our rain ponchos. Everything was drenched and we proceeded to climb our way up to the Temple in the heavens, Temple 12 (Shosanji). Arriving at the Noukyosho office looking like drowning rats, the monk at the desk puffing away on his cigarette ushered us inside and had us sit next to the propane heater in the office hall. When I showed him a photo of where we camped last night, he seemed impressed and was concerned about me being cold. He then told us to wait while he went to his living quarters to find us some food.

According to legend, the monk Kukai cornered a dragon into a cave up here behind the inner sanctuary.... 

After we read up about the legend, the monk appeared with two steaming bowls of ramen noodles and bestowed them upon us as ossetai.

Down the mountain we meandered, just to be followed by another nasty climb and once that was over it was downhill all the way onto a paved road running parallel to a river that took us all the way to 7/11 and Temple 13, arriving well after closing time with nowhere to sleep. We rang the doorbell of the caretaker, a lovely woman who told us we could camp on the wooden temple veranda, covered and safe. Not only did she provide us with sanctuary for the night but also brought us ossetai in the form of two bowls of delicious, steaming corn soup. 

As we go to sleep at Temple 13, I am in awe of the kindness of the people I have met along the way and an extremely grateful.

Temple 11 and up a mountain

 Day 3: Temple 11 and up a mountain 

Today was terrible and wonderful at the same time. We woke up to the news that some thieves had smashed through our beautiful gates that Josh built for our property on the Big Island and they tried unsuccessfully to break into our container, but the gates are destroyed. We feel devastated and helpless being so far away.

Along the morning walk we saw a sign for a Pilgrim Oasis which meant a 400 m detour. Thankfully we decided to take it and were invited into a most wonderful Japanese family home where we purchased a fantastic breakfast and connected to WiFi for a half an hour. This encounter restored our faith in humanity. Thank you Arakawa family for lifting our spirits with your gracious hospitality.

When we reached Temple 11 (Fujiidera) we found our French Connectiion Trail friends Valentine and Amelie who we had met yesterday at two different temples. After having a look around Mrs Arakawa came running into the temple grounds waving my plug for my phone charger which I had accidentally left at their house. Again, I was amazed by her kindness for going out of her way to bring it to me and she was relieved that we hadn’t started the long trek up the mountain towards Temple 12. 

The journey towards the next temple is a brutal climb, taking us past two abandoned temples high in the mountain top. Today we climbed to 800m/2400ft  above sea level which included going up 600m, down 100m, up 300 m, then down 400m where we camped on a bridge beside a river next to what appears to be an abandoned or not very lived in village. As we entered the town, a loud speaker started playing a song at high volume which scared the heck out of us, but when we looked at the time it was 5 pm, so it was probably amend of work day announcement.... but who it was announcing to is the next question! 

Our camp site is lovely, with the sound of the babbling river and we’re protected beneath a cedar tree. There is rain forecast tonight. We go to sleep saddened by the fact that there are such awful people in the world who would smash our gates but also uplifted by the fact that there are so many wonderful people too, many of whom we have encountered on this walkabout.

Temple 5-10

Day2: Temple 5-10

Waking up on the grounds of Temple 5 was quite a beautiful experience. The huge, gnarled old ginkgo tree towered above the courtyard in the early dawn sky and a feeling of peace enveloped us. We burned three incense sticks and wrote a wish for a safe journey on a name slip which we deposited it into the box. The lovely lady who opened the nkyosho office at 7 am gave us ossetai in the form of a cup of hot coffee and mochi. I had no idea at first that she had given a mochi treat and I thought it was some kind of compressed sugar ball for the coffee, so I plopped the mochi ball into the coffee cup which caused riotous laughter from both of us when we realized what I had done.

Reading through the guide book we leaned that one of the Pilgrim Oaths is:

“I will not complain if things do not go well on the pilgrimage but consider such experiences to be a part of ascetic training.” This thought would come in handy later on when we became a bit lost trying to find Temple 6 (Anrakuji) as the henro signs were not as clear but we eventually got there after walking an extra couple of kilometers and having to double back. At this temple there is an upside down pine tree which is supposed to ward off misfortune. Apparently that tree has died and they have planted a new pine tree right side up.

Temple 7 (Jurakuji) has a statue of Jizo Bosatsu, who is believed to cure eye problems. We were amazed that there were many statues of babies with Jizo as well which represents all the babies who have died before birth or as infants.

Cherry blossoms are in abundance everywhere and orange trees look burdened under their loads which makes for very scenic walking. 

At Temple 8 ( Kumadaniji) we met an elderly Japanese gentleman who had done the henro 148 times. How this is possible we don’t even know. We met him at the top of an enormous flight of stairs and he took a great liking to us even though we couldn’t understand each other. We received so many ossetai gifts from him including a bar of chocolate, two sticky buns , a tiny pilgrimage cloth bag and two of his brocade name slips ( reserved for those who have done the pilgrimage over 100 times). We were overwhelmed with his kindness and generosity. Josh took a photo with him and we all bade each other farewell.

 After getting our stamps at the nkyosho office we met a French couple who were also planning on camping most of the way. 

As we arrived at Temple 9 (Horinji), we met Ohenro-San 148 again. He waited patiently for us to complete our visit and then called us over to share a mochi treat with him. What a sweet soul!

Once again we had to book it to the last temple of the day as the cut off time for getting stamps was looming. Little did we know that once we got there we still had to climb up 200 stairs before we reached the nkyosho and main daisha.

Temple 10 (Kirihataji) is situated up a hill and in the jungle. We considered trying to camp there but changed our minds and kept going since we still had another hour of daylight. Eventually we came upon a Henro Hut which is a rustic hut set up along the way for pilgrims to sleep in. This one was set up on a private property, which is fairly common as many of the locals show support for the pilgrimage by providing accommodation.

We set up our tent in the hut and settled in for a well deserved nights sleep.

Temple 1-5 88Temples Henro

Day 1: Temple 1-5

It’s a lovely thing to wake up on a chilly morning and be able to sit on a warm toilet seat. Japanese toilets rock!

Breakfast at our hotel was bright and early, tasty and nutritious and the hotel took us back to the airport on a complementary shuttle bus. From there we took a three hour bus drive to Tokushima train station on the island of Shikoku, followed by a 30 minute train ride to Bando station in Naruto city. Finally after a 10 minute walk from there we arrived at Temple 1 (Ryozenji) named after a sacred mountain in India where Buddha gave sermons. It is here that we each bought a pilgrim top, I bought the conical straw hat, incense, name slips which we will give to people who offer us ossetai (gifts of kindness) along the way. One can also write your name, address, date and a wish on a slip and place it in special box at the daishi hall. Josh bought a beautiful scroll to collect his Temple stamps on and I bought a stamp book ( nokyocho ). Whew... now we felt we had all the necessary requirements to start the journey and it was already 2:00pm in the afternoon.

 Temple 2 (Gokurakuji) is a 1.1km walk from the first temple, which takes you on foot through a quaint residential neighborhood.

In the grounds is a large cedar tree which is said to give one a longer life and people come to this temple to pray for an easy childbirth.

Temple 3 (Konsenji) is 2.1km from number 2. If you can see your face’s reflection in the gold well (konsen) apparently you will live to 92 years of age, if not, you will die in 3 days. We did not look into the well, so it’s anybody’s guess how long we’ll live for.

By now it was getting late and we had heard that the temples close very punctually at 5pm. We hot- hoofed it along a muddy trail and then along a rural road another 4.9km and made it to Temple 4 (Dainichiji) just as it was closing. The lady at the stamp office graciously stayed open to give us our stamps (nokyo). The monk Kukai is said to have founded this temple which has a long history of disuse and reconstruction but is very much in use today.

• Now that the pressure was off we thought we’d make it the last 2km to Temple 5 (Jizoji) and see what would happen. It was closed when we arrived as the sun was setting. The evening air was bitterly cold and we wondered where we would be able to sleep for the night. A caretaker appeared and we asked him whether there was any free accommodation ( Tsuyado). He smiled and offered us the Incense Hut, a little cabin in the middle of the courtyard where we could set up our sleeping mats and snuggle into our sleeping bags under cover and safe. We feel so fortunate and thankful for our first ossetai received today in the form of a safe place to sleep.
• Today we only had time for 10km/6 miles of hiking. Amongst the many things we learned was basic temple etiquette, namely before entering the temple grounds gate, one must stand to the left and bow once. Upon entering make your way to the cleansing station where you rinse your hands and mouth with water from a ladel, then proceed to the bell and announce yourself after which you may proceed to the rest of the temple grounds.
• We’ll say goodnight from Itano town, from the “incense hut” beneath a giant 800 year old Gingko tree under the watchful gaze of Kobo Daishi’s large statue nearby.

Arriving in Osaka

The ten hour flight from Honolulu to Osaka Kansai International airport was smooth sailing with Hawaiian Airlines on a comfortable Airbus 330. We decided to wear our best anti-coronavirus fashion outfits for the journey and were glad we did as there were a lot of sniffers, coughers and sneezers on the plane.

Kansai airport is a man made island airstrip which was interesting to land on over the ocean and through the mist on a cloudy late afternoon.

The minute we touched down we were greeted with such gracious courtesy and friendliness and one of the passport checking officials gave us numerous thumbs up and exclamations when he discovered we were there to hike the 88 Temples Henro.

After an expensive and relatively short taxi ride to the city of Osaka we checked into our hotel for the night and took a leisurely stroll down the side streets in the dark in search of food. 

The night air was crisp at 48 F/8 C, which is very chilly for an island girl but we had a lot of fun, finding the famous vending machines and 7 Eleven convenience store where we bought a few snacks.

We had removed our masks in the hotel room but noticed that many locals  were wearing masks all the time.

We are so happy to be here and plan to catch a 3 hour bus to Shikoku early tomorrow morning to the start at Temple 1.

Goodnight from our cozy room in the city of Osaka.