5th summary. And so it ended.

Well as title already reveals I had to stop the pilgrimage tad sooner than I expected(about week prematuredly). Leg issues which I get back later. Still. After last summary I had arrived to temple 26 after arriving to Cape Muroto.

It was heavily raining as I left the temple early prepared for a very long day under steady rain that occasionally paused for few minutes before coming back heavily. I basically just walked alone through couple small villages. After like 10km or so there was pilgrim trail through mountain. I considered skipping it and using the car route which might be tad longer but probably easier than climbing in rain but...I love mountains so I went up. Meeting one local person on route I eventually got to the other side but boy mountain trail with wet leaves is tricky to descent.

Around 11AM serious rain started making me think boat might soon be needed to go forward! I have never walked in rain like this. And trucks were splashing water on me all the time. Boy was I feeling miserable but at least had good motivator to keep me moving fast so I got to the lodging around 1PM. Leaving luggage as agreed I headed to the temple 27 that was on top of 410m or so climb with some stone stairs at the end! I was soo exhausted there. Getting to the lodging I was dead tired. Well 34km, that mountain plus rain so no surprises...

Next day. Started bit misty but much to my surprise it was mostly sunshine today. First in Kochi! I entered Aki town and zagging along their small streets full of old stores I got into walker/biker specific road. Which seemed to last forever. Well more like 5km when I had ran out of drinks and had to exit back to highway to get something to drink. At Akano rest station I ran into couple Australian tourists who were curious about this pilgrimage.

Eventually got into lodging where I first met this middle aged female pilgrim I would meet later again. I had amazing view to look at during meal which made the place well worth it.

Monday. Today was supposed to be short day with just 28km. At the start it didn't rain which was nice but eventually it started to rain. It was about 10km walk to the Dainichiji temple that I had some trouble locating. Trees in the temple compound were particulary nice.

But getting here I started to think my plan for today might be tad...Bad. I would get very short day but tomorrow would be very long one. So I decided to walk to the next temple first before going to lodging. Adds bit more walking overall but cuts down tomorrows job.

Walking through another long road through rice fields that seemed to go forever I eventually came to konbini where I stopped for a break. While eating I looked at the map noticing there was onsen on fairly convenient location. I decided that aftet temple and before going to lodging I would take the onsen! So I walked to the temple(quite nice) and headed to the onsen which felt just great. Only problem was I still had to walk to the lodging in rain! Was tempted to call taxi but resisted.

On route to the lodging I ran into the old lady from yesterday much to mutual joy and surprise. Always nice to meet familiar faces again!

Lodging was standard business hotel so nothing special.

Next day started rainy but eventually cleared up and wouldn't see rain anymore during this walk. It was beautifull day to walk though for some reason my pace was pretty bad. Going to temple 30 I met there the lady again(yey!) before heading toward next temple during which I met older men whom I would walk quite a bit today. We separated for a while during my food break but eventually at the temple 31 we met again.

Before leaving the temple I had spotted mother and her young, like maybe 4 or 5 year old, daughter. I had enjoyed watching the kid enjoy herself so on a whim prepared nameslip paper and gave it to her(much to kids surprisement). Kid seemed to like it though as she excitedly called out for her mother telling her to look what she got. Nice!

Leaving temple I joined up with the men I had met with whom I walked most of the way to the temple 32 before I had to stop in for a break exhausted by the pace. After lunch break at restaurant I got to temple 32 meeting couple americans on route. Another mountain temple with amazing views from the top.

Getting to the lodging took a while as it was some 6km away and included one of the scariest bridges I have had to cross ever. Very narrow walker path and when car came from behind the air jolted me around. And took like 9 minutes just to get to the top...

But the lodging was excelent and ridiculously cheap for the quality. Great view especially in the bath!

Wednesday and beginning of the end! Mistakes in calculation, getting lost and generally lodging locations being less than ideal and after doing temples 33 and 34 in quick order I realized this would be longer than expected with tight schedule. I spent time going to temple 35 like I was racing. Legs weren't enjoying the pace have to say.

Getting to the temple, on top of mountain again, I had some rest there before heading back(possibly seeing the poisonous mamushi. At least it was very long snake so not going to offer being bitten to see if it was poisonous!). I moved fast realizing I WAS going to be tight to get to 5PM which I usually try to arrive as latest(though had I known this was not minshuku but proper onsen/restaurant/lodging I might have felt less need to rush). I skipped mountain climb as I didn't feel I would be able to climb it and get to the lodging and didn't want to risk collapsing on mountain.

Crossing another long bridge I eventually got to the lodging having walked 36.5km. Longest so far. And legs were soooo toasted. Also skin at ankles were broken at places so at night had hard time sleeping if I didn't sleep on my left side protecting right ankle from touching anything.

Next morning felt okay except for the ankle section that didn't like touch of shoes but went to temple 36 and it's oku-no-in(3rd temple hall, often in remote place, where in olden days priests practiced meditation etc). During trip to there I had first hint I was in trouble as climbing mountain road was hard. And then walking toward next town I got into serious trouble as right ankle started to refuse holding up weight.

I was in trouble and after about 8km walking I raised white flag and called taxi. Didn't get reply. This was bad so resorted to hitchiking! After couple attempts got a drive from living angel to the Susaki station.

From there I took the small walk to the bekkaku temple that had been goal and then, since train would have required like 2 hour wait, took about 3km walk to the lodging.

And with this this years pilgrimage is done. Wont try to continue with these feet anymore. Next year with lighter pack and new type of shoes I continue with slower pace.

Next? Plan is quick drop to Kochi castle, then to Tokushima for 2 nights, Okayama, Osaka, maybe Chichibu again and then to Tokyo.

Fourth summary. I have entered the Kochi prefecture. And it's been rainy!

So last I wrote I was in lodging next to a beach. Still in Tokushima prefecture but approaching the Kochi prefecture that is infamously rough part of the pilgrimage with rain(don't think there's been pilgrin who HASN'T experienced rain here).

But before that I still had one more temple and thats the fourth bangai bekkaku temple in Tokushima to take care of. It was fairly short trip from the lodging so it was done fairly quickly. From here it would be 55 kilometers with NO temples to visit. Not much to do except put some feet ahead of other and walk.

I had fairly short bout 20km or so, day planned before I would reach last lodging I could realistically reach in this day. Next one would be way too far. So I waked until I reached town where I was supposed to take the western route out of 2 in the map. However I somehow managed to steer too much north so got lost..Trust me to get lost in almost straight road. Lol! Luckily it was no big detour in the middle of nowhere but have to wonder am I first modern pilgrim to have walked that road? Not part you would expect to get lost and there's nothing there for pilgrim to go deliberately so could be...

Getting back to route I went to konbini store for breakfest filling and went to the rest hut nearby to eat them. Seems this was first of these free henro huts built. There was also some fruit/something juice for free that I drank of. Pretty good!

I walked some more before entering the second town on path that had last konbini for a while so bought some serious food supplies(too much in hindsight) and called today's lodging to confirm I am coming(she had been bit worried about that since I didn't have a phone number to call to).

Then I reached the tunnel that marks the border between Tokushima and Kochi prefecture. I enter in while in Tokushima, exited in Kochi. I have come Kochi! Show me what you have got!

Well today was only short stint so nothing too spectacular happened yet. I checked in to one of the most ancient and run down looking lodgings yet but hostess was friendly enough when we got to talking, meals were good and futon good enough to sleep so no major complains. She even prepared 2 rice balls and gave bottle of tea as o-settai. Thank you! For 5500 yen quite cheap for all this. Old building or not! However later heard less than favourable reviews of that place. Well does look kinda rough. But dunno. I didn't have major problem with it. Wouldn't be high on my lodging list on this trip but not bad enough I wouldn't be willing to book there again if I came here again.

11th day was going to be simple walk along sea coast. Literally. Only couple unnumbered bangai spots and one konbini stop but apart from that it was all walking along highway listening and looking at the waves hitting the beach.

Day I had been dreading a bit. But it was actually bit better than I had feared so all good in the end.

Original plan had been to go for tad short of temple 24 but due to leg issues had booked lodging bit earlier and maybe lucky I did. This place was very nice(got good vibe just from outside!) with good meals(and 11th differet type of dinner in a row) and quite an interesting Jean Sibelius fan as a fellow pilgrim. He was also very good walker(he stayed last night in the same beach side place I had stayed in and walked 46km in a day!) and very, very, VERY talkative. I'm not usually the quiet one around table but this time I had hard time putting anythig in as he kept talking and talking and talking! As he kept no barrels I had to concetrate fully to keep up but did get pretty much everything he said. From a lot of things. Damn that guy talked a lot!

Not often I get beaten in talking but thanks for good listening practice!

Did you know it was mountain sakura all the old poems etc were made? I didn't but that was tidbit he told and host agreed. Interesting. Those were the original cherry trees it seems. They were later imported out into cities etc out of the mountains.

So far apart from short stint of rain it hadn't been that bad in Kochi. However when I woke up it was all rain...Rain. In steady pour. Bad enough that if I hadn't had full rain gear with coat and pants I would have been completely soaked in minutes. Miserable weather to walk in but at least views were great so trying to avoid cars giving me extra wash(failing once resulting in entire right side all the way up to hed getting completely soaked by car that passed by) I proceeded toward the temple 24.

Alas the cave Kukai spent 3 years living was off limits due to recent stone falls so that was bummer. I met first time here canadian ladies pair with whom I would be doing leapfrogging all day. I would outpace them, I would go to toilet or take a break and they would catch up and take a lead. Repeat. This continued until I left temple 25 for a konbini stop.

Temple 25 had rather steep and tall stairs to climb to before getting to the main hall. view to the misty sea was quite beautiful.

Rain had briefly stopped here but picked up again so on a konbini took up rain gear(minus trousers) again and headed up toward the 26. I was way too early so took up any excuse for a break. I also stopped at pharmaceusty(sp?) for some cream for dry skin and ended up getting various pain killing stuff, bandaids etc as osettai and met lady who had just been shortly to Finland. We had good time chhatting about Finland there.

But no matter of breaks I arrived rather early to the templ 26. Here I also saw I think first time actual priest doing the pilgrimage. Interesting. Lodging opened after about 30 minutes so had bit chilly waiting but not too bad.

Lodging had one of the most amazing views out of any room I have stayed so far and had nice time just watching it sipping tea before going into bath, talking with other pilgrims there, doing laundry and being in a room for a while and then went to dinner that was more like a feast. I lost count of sashimi slices I ate. 15? Boy I overate but it was so goo-ood! We also had lots of talking and laughing. It's really nice how people here seem to take me into the discussions freely. One of the best parts in this pilgrimage. There's very strong "us" feeling. I get to use my japanese probably more than I have ever used in my life before here. And they don't seem to be holding back much but speak rather naturally. Leads into some trouble with dialects but hey studies!

Tomorrow might be bit tough day if I try to do the temple 27 as well but if I can do that helps day after that. And forecast says rain for full week for now at least some time of day every day...Kochi!

Third summary. Close to the end of Tokushima

Phew. Have had some tough days so haven't had time to write but today have all the time in the world so would be crime not to write!

After last entry I was at the temple 19 after long rainy day after 5 days of walking. So on day 6 I went to the third Bangai temple Jigenji(mercifull eye temple) which was on a mountain and took me on a long detour from the main path. Not many people go to these extra temples because they are so off the main course and this temple exemplifies it!

Luckily I had got permission to leave my belongings to my lodging that was right on the path and was formed school building now turned into some sort of lodging thing by locals. Creative use of school buildings as they become unneccessary due to reducing number of people in the rural Shikoku.

But getting to that lodging alone was some 20km walk of mostly highway. Great views though and lots of locals I passed cheered me on. Thanks! Kind words really help here.

Arriving to Katsuura town I got to see the hina(doll) festival there. Usually it's held on 3th of march but here and on Katsuura of Chiba prefecture it's held longer. Lots of hina dolls. Like unbelieavably many. I shudder to think about price of that collection as even simple dolls are expensive(few hundred euros) and many of those were NOT simple dolls. Must be gifts and other donations through many many years.

I also stopped at konbini for some supplies and was pleasantly surprised when I ran into the motorbike riding women from Hiroshima. She's very interesting fellow I have easy time talking to. Then again I think everybody have easy time talking to. She's just great personality! Feels like aunt whom I can rely on and who always has these great stories to meet. As she's on motorbike obviously her hourly speed is greater but she's visiting EVERY SINGLE spot of interest on the pilgrim map and that means she's zig-zagging here and there. Might take like 3 months for walker to do them all...

Views here were great so my eyes were having feast. Legs less so so when I got to the lodging I gladly left extra weight and headed toward the temple that was some steep climb over some BEAUTIFUL terrain. Really many pilgrims miss out on not coming here. So far it's been these bangai temples that have had best views to see so far.

I got to the temple and...Guess what? It's the biker aunt again! Mutual joy of meeting again. She was surprised I was already here(I think exact words she used "did you fly?"). Well...No but walker path is several km shorter and without backbag pace was good.

Alas main hall was even MORE climbing and that was some STEEP asphalt covered hill path. Took some effort. I did my prayers among half a dozen other pilgrims(group of some kind). I didnt go to famous tunnel here because it's also very narrow at times and the test piece was like half my width so I figured better not risk it.

At the lodging there were 3 other pilgrims including women I would be seeing again.

Day 7 was day I had been nervous about. 25km or so according to map book, no less than 3 mountains(520m, 500m and 200m) to climb. Could be rough day!

Trip to foothills of first mountain temple(20) of the day was backtracing what I had walked yesterday. Climb itself was easier than I thought. At the top it was pretty cold though. I ran here to the women last night and we were both surprised that I had got there first despite her taking car ride to Katsuura. I think she might have used the other climbing path that's longer, her goal for today is closer so she's taking it slowly and climbing up is my speciality.

Going down however is my weak point. I hate going down. Very hard for my knees and ankles. I love climbing mountains but sheesh going down is rough time.

So after arduous climb I walked through small town with literally nothing to see for me. Just people's home. This area is very bad in terms of shops(literally nothing) so food wise make sure you have enough to last you for the day. Best you can have here is vending machines for drinks.

Shortly before climb to next temple(21) I stopped at the vending machine to which also car with old couple and 2 kids, probably grandparents by look of them, stopped. Here one of the most touching events of this pilgrimage happened as the little boy, maybe some 5 or 6 years old, gave me an o-settai! Gift! One candy. Gift itself was no big deal in itself but the thought and emotion of it was much bigger deal. It's hard to really explain how much something as simple as this really meant for me. In terms of material value that's no big deal for me. It didn't also give me anything I really needed. But still the simple gesture gave me extra spring to my steps all day.

I hope all the best for that little boy. Won't be forgetting you in a hurry.

Second mountain was about same as last one in terms of difficulty. Enough to make you feel you have climbed but nothing compared to Shosanji though total climb and descent amount exceeded that day.

I encountered older lady from Hokkaido on the way and we had long fun time talking before the steep climb began and we parted our ways. Fun talk but luckily not the last time we would be talking.

On the top I ran into the female from last night again and she had same idea of taking the scenic route rather than quicker one nor the cable car. Her presence actually came handy when we got into fork where we weren't sure which route to go. Left one to the east was supposed to be great views but she thought it might be dangerous(she thought she had been told so). However she had friend/relative who might go so she called her(I think it's her and not him) and got confirmation it's safe to go so we went there. We parted our ways there on her suggestion that I should better hurry least it gets dark before I cross third mountain.

This route seems to be recently restored pilgrim path and had pretty good views. Also some scarier parts but provided you took your time and used the ropes no REAL reason to worry. Looked worse than it was.

Getting to bottom of the mountain...I started to climb third mountain right away. I swear if there had been 4th mountain to climb it would have been taxi time. My legs were at the limits.

Luckily after short climb(small mountain) I was on the other side so just needed to walk to the station to head back to Tokushima where my lodging was. On route I ran into couple grandma's with whom I first had discussion about how the rice is grown and with another how it's the human to human interaction that is the real treasure of this pilgrimage. It's less about the temples and more about people you meet on the way. Knew this before it began and experience has only sunk it deeper.

Everybody I have met so far. THANK YOU! You have made this as great experience as it has been. I can only hope I have been able to give something back in return.

It was this day I experienced first time in 4 years major case of racism in Japan. One of the lodgings I called flat out refused to take me in because I was foreigner.

This hurt me a bit and made me angry but luckily this has been so far fairly isolated case. There's been couple times lodging owner has been bit worried because I don't have phone number(something I need to work on for next year) but only this one has flat out refused me because I'm not Japanese. And outside lodging at worst people have appeared to be tense when I approach but have relaxed when I speaked Japanese so I figure it's have been less probem that I'm foreigner and more worry about having to deal with english language them being totally incapable or very poor at it. I can understand that and it's never been problem for me. But openly hostile reaction like this was first for me.

Well there's rotten apple everywhere. Can't say there wouldn't be something like this in Finland either.

Day 8th. Waking up early to meet the first train(and really the only train I could use today to be on time...) I headed back to the station I had left last night. Walked to the temple that certainly was one of the more interesting ones so far and had both Honzon and Daishi statue in respective statues clearly visible. I also met here the Biker Aunt again! Always great to meet her especially as I suspected this might be last(unless I go to Hiroshima one day and get tour she promised) as we would be entering part where her bike really shines over feet as transportation method.

She also was helpful giving hints for my ankles that are giving me some grief. In fact I'm going to use one day of my 2 reserve days to slow down my pace here a bit. I need to get them restored again. I can even take more if needed and if need be I take small rest and do this pilgrimage in 3 years if need be. Or 4. I want to finish this but not do anything stupid that causes permanent damage to legs or something.

From temple 22 to temple 23 would be about 20km or so(though think it was actually tad more) that can be summarized as LONELY. At first the women I had met at the lodging after bangai 3 and last night gave short company but again my pace was quicker so I proceeded first. Then it was HOURS walking with maybe one car driving past.

I have never experienced as lonely Japan as this one. At times I felt like I was only person in the world. Emotion shared by the lady in Hokkaido I had met yesterday that I caught up. Before that I had seen 2 grandma's with whom I initiated talk just to have somebody to talk to! And when I met the Hokkaido lady I felt so grateful to have somebody to chat while walking I could have kissed her! Damn it was lonely section.

We parted our ways on Yuki town where she took train toward Hiwasa and I headed on foot. I got here my first taste of sea which was one way I took this somewhat longer route(another reason being more likely seeing vending machines or even konbini and other closeby train stations if ankle issues becomes so severe I need to stop walking).

Enjoying sight I have had only rarely in Japan I walked toward Hiwasa. There was also unexpected bonus of some mountain paths that offered escape from paved road.

I arrived to Hiwasa and headed to the temple that had some serious stairways to climb.

After some serious attempts(lots were booked out) I got lodging at the onsen attached to the temple. And guess what? Lady from Hokkaido was there too! Onsen was also nice though surprisingly small one but still one bath tube fits just fine. Usually in onsens there's been multiple different types of bath but here was just one.

Dinner was also small(very good though) so ordered also ramen to supplement it. Men from saitama that said last year had come this far before quitting from feet issues(condition I could symphatize with) was also there.

I made lodgings for next 2 days. First one took couple attempts before found room and second took some convincing for the owner to let me in. Problem being lack of phone number. She was worried about what if I cancel and never show up. I had to promise that a) I will pay up full even if Icancel up and b) I will call her again on wednesday around noon when I know better when I will be arriving.

It's bit inconvenient but I do understand their side of this as well. This business is pretty hard for them and guests that skip are really big issue for them. That's why I generally don't book many days ahead to ensure I don't run into too many "sorry need to cancel" situations. And I have 100% commitment to fulfil that pay fully even if I cancel. This is not just me but also for sake of other pilgrims. If I cause trouble for the lodgings here it could result into this lodging closing up to foreign pilgrims as well. Or generally to pilgrims without phone number.

Many free sleeping places etc have already in past years closed down because there's been pilgrims who don't appreciate the effort needed to run those and have misbehaved. I have sworn that whatever I do here I try to make sure I don't leave negative impression of pilgrims here. I own that much for the kindness of locals here who are setting up rest places, toilets, path markers etc on voluntary basis.

People of Shikoku. From the bottom of my heart BIG THANK YOU!

Day 9. Due to ankle issues I decided to cut down todays path a bit and abandoned the longer scenic route. Scenery sounded beautifull but like 5km extra lengh plus  4 climbs and decents didn't feel like what my ankles needed right now.

So I instead took the highway 55. So my day, for tad short of 6 hours it took to reach the lodging for today(20km including short detours to shops, pharmaceust and post office) I walked the highway 55. Really not much to talk about this day! Apart from steady stream of cars and couple pilgrims that overtook me when I was resting(generally on other side of the road) I saw nobody else before I reached Mugi town.

I checked in shortly before 1pm which is very unusually early for pilgrims but ankle issues made me want to go for short day and the ones tad further away I tried first were booked up.

The lodging is next to the beach with BEAUTIFULL view. Building itself doesn't look that great from outside being old but inside it's comfortable rooms if you don't mind japanese style with decent bath(not spectacularly good but not bad either) and has western styled toilet which is always nice. Haven't eaten yet so no idea what meals are but so far no complains.

Oh and the views are great!

Today was first day without temples. Tomorrow is 4th bangai temples and then another templess day. On friday will be doing 2-3 temples depending on lodging bookings.

As I write the pain killing tape thingies seems to be doing work and with long rest ahead and plenty of those tapes hoping shorter days ahead restore spring to my ankles.