Day 4. Something went wrong and it became a very long day...

So with wakeup at 5:30 and breakfast at 6am me and japanese men prepared to leave while french lady would be leaving tad later and biker women went on her own.. We all got two onigiri as osettai for lunch(angels!) and price for night was just 4000 yen! That's like ridiculously cheap for all this...

 Unusual breakfast in that it had sausage and egg. Felt positively western...Well except for mandatory miso soup and rice ;)

This marked the point where walkers head to yet another mountain to get out of the mountain with Shosanji.

But all good things must come to end and we had to depart so 6:35 we started walking. The guy I was walking with was seriously fast walker though. I think he was holding back at the start...He had went first day all the way to temple 10, did that and 11 on day 2 starting 2 hours BEHIND me to climb toward Shosanji and then proceeded to make there before I did. Seriously? He's lightning that he is! Unsurprisingly during the climb toward up he eventually went way ahead me. I just said good luck, have fun and go on your own pace when he said byebyes. As this was his last day I wouldn't be seeing him again. Wish you well!

 There was some morning fist which made walk feel quite...eery.

 Day started with nice climb up to about 500 meters. I had forgotten to check what kind of terrain this day goes so the mountain climb was bit of a surprise I had found only last night about.

 Climb was quite arduous and on route I just had to take off my long sleeved shirt. Too hot! But getting to top and starting again descent I was rewarded with beautifull, and I mean BEAUTIFULL, views of mountains covered in mist. It was like islands floating in sea. I had very enjoyable descent down.

 This ended up being one of my favourite sights of entire trip. The mountains in mist were splendid views.

 Not sure why they have poured carrots here like this...

 There was rest hut on route on a mountain village with oranges as osettai so I gladly took one and sat there for a while. Leaving name slip and bowing as thanks I then continued my way.

After this path started to descend and boy did it take long time! At times it felt like forever that I kept just descending down which felt murderous for my poor knees. I really dislike downhills. Much worse than uphills.

Eventually I reached small village along river. I was now glad I hadn't been too ambitious yesterday and tried to reach lodging around here as it took me about 3.5 hours to reach here from sudachikan and had about hour spare to 5pm(common time to reach lodgings by latest) so wouldn't have made it so would have had less time to rest at the Shosanji.

 Interesting road market. The plate on right is telling how far to next temple(though lot more for me due to Bangai bekkaku temple).

Couple dolls pretending to play go board game.

 This was the more ambitious lodging I had planned. Taaad too far after all. Thank god Sudachi-kan had had room.

 Another pair of dolls.

 And yet more with another "X km to next temple" sign along.

 Around this part of the road I was actually first time bit unsure was I on the right path after all but luckily I was. Unusually thin on road markers this section was.

 This was bit of narrow bridge to cross. Well not dangerously narrow but enough that I felt better getting to other side.

 I remember that at around this time my feet felt rather exhausted so took pause eating little bit while sitting on some random raised level next to the road.

 100 yen(less than euro) for bag of oranges. Lost to tempation and bought. Too heavy but tasty. BTW this was just put coin to box and take.

 There was part on route where I had planned to keep going forward rather than cross the bridge but when another pilgrim overtook me as I stopped to get a drink and saw him to turn right for the bridge I rechecked map and figured it might be shorter and figured I would catch up and talk. We had talked before at the Shosanji and I figured I would offer one of the oranges I was carrying. So I followed him but while his pace was fairly slow(wonder how he caught up with me? Maybe he's better descending than I am) it still takes time for walker to catch another. Difference isn't THAT great. Eventually I caught him, he didn't want orange(weight :D) and we chatted this and that. Eventually I pushed forward though. I had long day ahead of me.

I had couple times when car with loudspeakers drove past playing out speech while driving. I have seen this kind of cars couple times. Sometimes rather than speech they play out some silly tune...

Around this time I made some calculations and realized I might be in a bit of a hurry so put up on a more speed. Mountain climb took quite a bit of time and temples take time.

This town seems to be claiming to have most beautifull drooping cherry trees. Too bad they weren't yet blooming.

 Is this really 2 way road?-)Yes it is...No idea why road is built with bottleneck like this.

But more worryingly sometimes the curves are rather steep so car could come out literally out of nowhere. No problem if you can hear them but japanese cars are quite silent. As a result I took habit of going extra closer to side when I approached corner. Still couple times cars came around and made visible quick dodge toward center when they spotted me. Phew!

Also roads are so narrow that if there comes car from ahead and rear often one car and possibly me also had to stop and allow one car to get through first. 2 cars and 1 walker is bit too much for these roads at times.

 Asphalt! And then some more asphalt :-/

I was looking at the clock and made some estimations and thought it might be good idea to walk faster for a while to give me time to rest later so I pushed forward faster than I have walked before here so far. I eventually reached part where road split to two. One way led toward Dainichiji, temple 13, and the one that went left led toward Bangai temple 2 Dougakuji where I was heading so that's where I went.

I met old guy who talked for a while with me and it was HARD to understand him. He spoke the typical old men speech that I haven't got quite used to since not many old guys in their 60's and 70's from japan to talk with in Finland! Eventually we bid good byes and I pushd forward. Bit further was place with lots of dogs so maybe some kind of kennel?

After long but gentle ascend though was the part I had been dreading. New dougakuji tunnel. Long, cramped though at least with reasonably safe walker path, smelly, noisy. Not much to like about. I had mask with me for this so I put it on and entered...And yep it was unpleasant. Even with mask didn't smell good and every time car went past noise was loud. I have read how some feel claustrophobic and almost like panic attack there and I can see why. Took over 6 long minutes to go through it.

Prepared for the tunnel that had appeared ahead. Even with the mask it was smelly in there.

But descending it was only short descent and through few roads and I was greeted with sight of temple next to a lake. Dougakuji!

Bangai bekkaku temple #2 Dougakuji(Temple of childhood learning) was located next to this big lake. This isn't all that common kind of location for temples in my experience.

 And this most definitely is not your run of the mill temple gate!

This temple by the way holds credit for being considered to be the oldest temple in the Shikoku. Interesting. I would have expected that to be bigger and more famous but guess age doesn't result in fame&glory with temples.

The main hall of this temple had actually burned down just few days before I had arrived so this time I only could do routine over at the Daishi hall.

 This temple is said to be where Kukai received his early schooling from around 8 to 9 and until he left for an university. If true he had to move quite a bit for sake of school as his birthplace and where he spent early childhood at least is in northern Kagawa prefecture so quite far from this.

Later it is said he wrote the Iroha poem here but seeing truthfullness of the idea that Kukai invented that poet is in doubt that can probably be discounted as another myth that got attached to him(I read btw interesting book about Kukai where author explained how this myth might have started). 

The Iroha is special because it uses all of the syllables of the kana syllabary, and uses each of them only one time. It was originally used to teach the kana to children but that isn't the case anymore. Now it is known more as a poem that expresses the Buddhist doctrine in the simplest possible terms. Indeed it has Buddhist roots generally as a help toward transliteration of buddhist scriptures from sanskrit toward japanese.

Curiously there's way to arrange the poem so that you can also read phrase that means "died without sin" which some consider an eulogy(tribute to someone recently dead) to Kukai.

 Temple had these beautifull cherry trees inside.

 With the temple legend being what it is no wonder there was Daishi statue like this! Was actually expecting something akin to this.

 As I had heard main hall had burned but damage was less than I thought but still couldn't approach it. I wonder if they will repair or rebuild it? Still daishido near BEAUTIFUL cherry tree was open so I did my prayers there. I already had my stamp so took some rest instead. While finding bench whom did I run into? Lady I had met at the Taisanji on the first day! We talked a bit, he gave me tea, another lady came with candy as an osettai(oh these people are just too sweet!). I talked with other female priest(I think the two blue caped women were priests...) and then for a while just sat there eating with feet out of shoes. Also talked with old men and another older women. While eating I also heard the two female priests(?) talking with two women who seemed to be cleaners. They were bit far so didn't hear all but realized they were talking about me! The priests(whom I had talked with) told to the other two(with whom I hadn't talked) how I was from finland, was 34 years old, was doing pilgrimage until Kochi prefecture's end, how I had gone to Taisanji on monday, how my japanese was good...Thanks for the compliments! Still don't think I would go that far but good enough I guess.

 As with so many of the other temples, this compund was burned to the ground by Chōsokabe and his army. The daishidō, built in the 16th century, was originally the hondō and was the only building to survive the destruction. The honzon(Yakushi nyorai) in the current hondō is listed as a natioinal treasure.

 7 gods of good luck in Shintoism.

Eventually I relocated a bit to sit with view to the cherry tree as I finally ran out of japanese people to talk with! Had been hoping to go there sooner but with somebody coming to talk often I found that hard so had been resting in less poetic place next to the stamp office.

 Finally decided it was time to go. Would be over 6km to the next temple. I first had to backtrack and seems I had lost my mask somewhere. Damn! Smell without mask was even worse. Getting back to the fork I turned toward Dainichiji and walked route along the river. Took a while to walk to the first bridge that crosses the river where I planned to find conditirion I had scouted before on google map.

 Shortly before river though I spotted another pilgrim so again I pushed forward fast trying to catch up. Eventually I did though maybe due to that I didn't find the conditioria. Ah well. We exchanged some words and then I stopped at vending machine to get tea. I left, noticed she was gone which was weird. Walked bit, realized I had forgotten map to the vending machine. Oops! Went back, noticed there was henro hut and went it. There she was! Haha. I would have missed the hut without forgetting the book...Turned out she would be staying in the same lodging today I would be!

Great hut where to rest(but no camping) for pilgrims with tea, coffee, orange, cold water all free of charge. Thank you feels like inadequate word for this.

Reaching the temple 13 Dainichiji(Great sun temple. You might remember that on day 1 I did temple 4 that shared the name) with 11 faced Kannon Boddhisattva as a Honzon this time. I did the prayers starting habit of leaving backbag and camera while visiting the two halls, then get the stamp and then take pictures. Less things to carry so becomes like a small rest in itself. Also took another short break.

 Curious statue with Kannon(?) inside two hands pressed together.

The main hall. Temple was founded by Kobo Daishi when he received instructions to do so by Dainichi Nyorai while performing goma ceremony(burning wooden plates etc in fire) here.

 And this is the Daishi hall.

 On leaving I also made quick tour to the shrine next to the temple. This shrine, Ichinomiya shrine, was long associated with the temple until Emperor Meiji ordered Buddhism and Shintoism forcibly separated from each other where before they had co-existed quite peacefully together. It was this time that the 11 faced Kannon statue was carried from the shrine to the temple where it became the honzon. Original Dainichi nyorai statue was made as honzon of a sub temple. Dainichi nyorai statue was made by Kukai while the Kannon statue was made by priest Gyogi.

And on leaving the temple I almost managed to forget my walking staff! Whoops. How one can forget that one! Luckily I had barely got out of the temple before I noticed that my right hand didn't feel as usual(since it wasn't gripping the staff)

 Now distances between temples would be shorter for a while which was good. Lodging was near 16, wanted to get there quickly and was tiring surprisingly quickly. Worrying this. Why this tired? This is just 28km or so day plus what I walk in temples according to my plans. Am I running out of energy already?

For the next temple it was 2.3km or so going through country views like this one.

Really? That's one bloody narrow walker path. I swear my arms were partially on a car lane walking this...

Some random shrine.

Arrival to the temple #14 Jorakuji(The temple of everlasting peace).

Bit unusual looking entrance.

Nice rest place was set up at the entrance.

Hand washing place. Tradition is to wash your hands(and mouth) before entering further.

Temple 14 has very unusual ground in which halls are. Looks like asteroid or something. I encountered what looked like wild cat that first was happy to get loooots of scratching. Later when I ate I gave cat little too and boy was the cat hungry taking pieces right when I offered it. Sorry that I didn't have more and wanted to eat myself too!

Main hall. Now this temple has rather rare Honzon as it's the only temple in this pilgrimage, and one of the only three in Japan, that has the prophezisied future Buddha(ie next person who archieves enlightement in same way as historical Buddha did) Miroku Bosatsu(Maitreya Bodhisattva in Sanskrit. Not sure did Japanese or Chinese alter pronounciation bit but somebody did). Kobo Daishi is said to have been doing ascetic practices here in 815 for 7 days after which Miroku Bosatsu revealed himself to him here inspiring him to carve 80cm tall statue and set it up here.

Another honzon that has history of repeatedly managing to survive fires that have burned the temple down. Constant rebuilding has been probably helped by various Emperors patronaging the temple.

Legend states that a wife carried her crippled husband five times around the entire pilgrimage, all the while praying to the Daishi for his help in curing the husband. On the sixth circuit, she and her husband swore that they would commit suicide if he wasn't healed by the end of that trip. When they reached Temple 14, the husband was healed and he and his wife walked the remainder of the pilgrimage together. Maybe due to this many disabled and crippled people visit this temple to benefit from the honzon's healing power. Chopsticks are sold here as souvenirs. Called chōmeibashi, they bring longevity to their users.

The Daishi hall.

The older men I had caught up earlier(I think it was same guy) was there at the 14 and left shortly before I. I caught up with him when I first received osettai of cookies(oh thank you) from sendatsu(somebody who is/was official guide for pilgrims. He kinda radiated sense of somebody you should listen to when I met and hearing him being sendatsu just cemeted that sense. He has very likely tons of experience regarding the pilgrimage!) who seems to have done this many times and then another guy showed me path where to go and then women under steps gave yet another osettai of bag with candies etc. And think I can find use for the bag itself!

Is this real? I mean this feels more like a dream.

And now with the men I ended up walking together...Well for the next 2 temples as well. His pace was quite slow but...Hey then again my legs were saying "don't ya DARE go fast!" as well! I knew I would be arriving to lodging later than I expected but not critically so so I took it gently and went with his pace talking this and that.

We got "false arrival" at another temple but realized it was some other temple and continued. 800 meters is short distance but slow pace threw me off a bit.

Sanmon(no nio guardians) of the temple #15, Kokubunji(The official State temple. This is actually shortened version from much longer name but alas don't recall it. However was related to temple's job in helping country toward greatness with prayers). These Kokubunji's were set all by order of Emperor Shomu around mid 8th century, one to each prefecture(or their equilavents in that age). Since Shikoku has 4(even name means 4 countries!) it means Shikoku has 4 temples that share this name.

Chōsokabe's forces burned this temple resulting in temple being out for a long time. Main hall was rebuilt between 1741-44 converting to Zen buddhism. Daishi hall was meanwhile built between 1830-44.

Stone on the right has inscription describing origins of temple. Why didn't I take closer photo!

As it turns out main hall was under repairs so they had set this temporal main hall that hosts the Yakushi Nyorai statue while main hall was under repairs. Another example of temples being redone frequently to some degree or another.

And this is the Daishi hall. After finishing up this I ended up talking with old lady who gave YET ANOTHER osettai. This time candy and hashi(the chopsticks). Funny when I asked what that was not seeing sticks from cover(fancy work of paper in itself) she gave abc's of chopstick :D I think if somebody can speak japanese reasonably fluently he or she knows that chopsticks are used in japan to eat rice ;) Sweet lady though. Gave very good introduction to famous Zenkonyado(free place to sleep) provided by taxi company. I knew of that beforehand but she sure gave excelent marketing speech for it!

I had been considering zenkonyados as they ARE free places to sleep and some don't even require sleeping back(many do though being mainly just room where to set up). Still wanting good bath and dinner at the end I'm mainly planning paid lodgings. Also locations can be trickier to locate. I mean I'm still not quite sure where it is except somewhere between this and next temple or between next and 17th temple.

Still they are very helpful especially for pilgrims on budget who don't mind lack of bath. Of course public baths could be nearby.

And this is what I could see of the main hall.

As this was among houses you couldn't bang the bell(if memory serves right).

15 down, one more to go as the two sorry stated pilgrims(well don't know about him but boy were my legs tired. I was bit worried about my legs. If this about 28km day makes me feel like this whatabou 30km+ days in Kochi prefecutre? Okay mountain today but still.

 Outskirts of Tokushima was rather flat and empty looking ground. We were steadily walking toward north. Tomorrow I would be passing through Tokushima proper.

Suddenly two foreigners came ahead. Neither looked really pilgrim like but maybe they were doing it in reverse without wearing any traditional outfits? Didn't look to be carrying much else either though. If not wonder what they were doing here. Not exactly tourist spot. Should have asked rather than just greet but I was too surprised by them.

 Arrival to sanmon gates of temple #16. Kanonji(Avalokitesvara Temple. Avalokitesvara is sanksrit for Kannon boddhisatva).

Last temple for today and almost next to my lodging. This rather tough day was almost over...Prayers, photos, stamp, talking with lady at the stamp office and the other men explained my things a lot to her as well. We exchanged name slips as this would be last we would likely see. He was going to 17, then son would pick him up and tomorrow he would not do pilgrimage but go for his ex work place for greetings. Seems common tradition after retiring here. Not sure if he continues after that. If yes he might catch up as I will "lose" time going to bangai bekkaku temple(most are surprised to hear I'm going to them as well)

I found the lodging quickly, washed my staff and checked in. First I put camera battery to charge up(seems I have lost or sent accidetally away the spare battery) and then straight to bath!

Oh but before either I stopped GPS track and checked distance...Almost 36 kilometers? What the...? Is map inaccurate? My calculations off? GPS inaccurate? All detours and temple walking added up to that? If anywhere near accurate no wonder I felt like day 4 in chichibu when GPS said 38km. Phew. I wasn't as weak as I had worried.

After bath I called to temple 19 and got lodging for tomorrow and fure-ai-no-ri(?) sakamoto where I got booking for saturday. They are also okay leaving my backbag there on my way to bangai bekkaku 3. Yey! Less to carry to the mountain.

Then was time to put in laundry going on and time for a dinner. Men I had met yesterday at Shosanji(and took photos of me) joined bit later and the women I had met today was also there. Turns out she is korean actually but has lived over 10 years in Japan so her Japanese was very good. He was as surprised as I was!

We spent lovely dinner talking about this and that. First time also in pilgrimage I have had discussion about Kukai and both history and legends.

Breakfast is 6:30. I spent rest of evening writing notes. In middle I got surprised when phone rang! I had forgotten lady from reception had promised to call me when clothes are dry. First time I received call in japan :D

Very good drying machine they had. They were completely dry. The one at Sakura ryokan(sorry!) wasn't as good. Maybe load was bit too many for one go?