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.
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