Day 6. The third bangai temple

Today was first REALLY serious detour for sake of an bangai temple. The Jigenji. Most pilgrims would be going from 19th to 21 or 22 and stop but I had to head further to west to mountains there for the third bangai temple. One reason bangai temples aren't included in the main course nor are often visited is that they are often far off and in tough to reach places. This fit the bill!

Second day so far with only 1 temple to go and not even main 88. Been kinda looking forward to these days that aren't multi temple ones. Those are often kinda busy days.

Some art on either my room or on the halls of the temple.

I had asked for breakfest on 6am to give me plenty of time to get there and to lodging. I'm starting to get used to this routine of wake early, go to toilet, brush teeth, pack my gear, eat breakfest, depart. In terms of routines doesn't really differ from work though at least I get to sleep bit more as I don't need to catch a train...Note the raw egg in the breakfast that I skipped again.

Think I was first one out today so stepping into slight drizzle I departed. Would be about 17-18km walk to the lodging where I had received permission to leave my backbag before heading for the mountain climb.

26.2km to the Jigenji...Going to take some walking.

Rain wasn't too bad at the start but eventually it picked up so I stopped to put on rain coat. During this the japanese men who seems to be bloody good walker(he's planning to go all the way to 22. That's where I plan to go tomorrow starting lot closer!) caught up with me. We exchanged good mornings and take cares and he left. Didn't expect to meet this guy with interesting way of accompanying pretty much every phrase with laughter again. I will be ending up day behind and his daily distance seems to be longer than mine so...

Took short break on bus stop with sign for pilgrims to take a break. I took gladly on their word! As I wasn't planning that long day I figured good day to take plenty of breaks.

Continuing forward I pushed toward town of Katsuura. There's town with very same name(even same kanji letters) in chiba prefecture and both have hina festival that's big. This one is still going so I was looking forward to it.

For a walker this is funny sign. The route to 21 for walkers go from 20 straight. Not by taking turn left here. Indeed for car pilgrim total km will likely be lot longer than for walker who can cut through mountains.

Ah you tease! My lodging 15 minutes with car! Or so it claims. Even for car that seems kinda too optimistic. Still beats walking which is like few hours still.

I eventually arrived to konbini and who was there? The laughing mr. long distance! I bought small snacks and ate and talked with him for a while before he left and for good at least for this day and frankly don't expect to meet him again short of him getting injured and having to rest for a while befoe continuing which I obviously don't hope for, Good luck and have fun!

 

Then it was just walking along the way. I had hoped to stop at the restaurant seen on map but when I got there it was still preparing for the day. Restaurants in japan often open annoyingly late. Next goal would be then the hina matsuri festival place and konbini nearby to pick up supplies.

Arriving to Katsuura I was welcomed by these...some kind of decorations.

Like Katsuura of Chiba there was Hina dolls everywhere!

Mountains. That's the mountain range holding temples 20 and 21 I think.

What on earth dinosaurus statues are doing here?

Somehow related to Brazil. Maybe some local brazil-japan organization has done this. Brazil has one of the largest Japanese minorities. And above statue is clearly inspired by the famous statue in Brazil.

Took a while but eventually I got there. I felt nostalgic entering the building as 4 years ago when i first came into japan one of the first things i experienced was hina festival.

I got myself a ticket and also what looks like wallet as an osettai(oh dear. Words just aren't adequate to express my feelings. Thank you feels like so inadequate for the task). They also suggested leaving backbag to staff room. Offer I gladly took!  Much more pleasant walking around marvelling at the dolls without extra kilos on my back.

These dolls always have lots of small details. Making these must be pretty hard thing if they are done by hand.

So far I had been "okay nice but I think the one in Chiba wins out". Then I realized I was more like rest/shop area. Turning around I noticed real display area was on other side and...

...HOLY SMOKEY! That's how many dolls? Now keep in mind one doll can cost easily 3 digits in euro's on cheap and I shuddered at the idea of how expensive it would be if this would burn down. Brr. Must be decades of collecting little by little. Likely lots of donations by locals etc.

Doll count: Uncountable. Chiba...Sorry. You lost.

These are hina dolls. Traditionally they are taken out of closet on 3rd of march(girl's day) and held for one day(it's believed girl doesn't get married if they are kept longer). These represent Heian period court starting with Emperor and Empress and moving down in rank. Full set has 7 layers of dolls.

Why these dolls for girls? It's because Heian period is considered to be one of the better ones for women in Japan. Men were often out leaving them in charge so to speak, they had(at least in court etc) time to spend for study and art and were fairly well respected. So these are put out wishing for girl to get happy life.

Some western style dolls as well.

I have suspicion my niece would have loved this place.

Staff actually explained this was first "big hina festival" and the one in chiba started when they received dolls from here. Chiba one has been better at the PR though.

So remember. When it comes to big hina festivals in Katsuura, THIS is first one!

 

After this I dropped by to michi no eki for first time. Didn't see much I felt buying though. Good for fruits and other food ingredients but for walker who wants like high energy stuff less ideal. So I went to the konbini...

...And got an extremely pleasant encounter. I ran into Mrs. Bike! The japanese lady in her maybe 60's who's doing the pilgrimage on motorbike I had met after Shozanji. And not just pilgrimage but visiting EVERY spot on the pilgrim map. That's how I was able to catch up with her despite since this being 3rd day since we departed and she's on a motorbike. While she obviously has higher speed she's zig-zaggin around while I'm going straight like an arrow between the main 88 and extra 20 temples. She has like over 100 extra places to go to! And THOSE are often really far off places.

We spoke for a good good while while I ate sushi I had bought at the hina festival. This old lady(felt like long lost aunt. One who's very adventurous!) was so heart warming person to talk to. Who said japanese are reserved? This lady was all talk and was hugging, high five'ing and what not. Felt like we were long time friends. Very easy person to be around and we exchanged contact informations and if I ever get to be close to where she lives I'll make sure to call her. She promised tour over the city :D Its city I have been before but second time after 4 years can't hurt and meeting her again would be great.

Eventually she left with her bike and after I got my lunch over(talk with her made it take longer than usual. Hehe. Good thing it wasn't warm lunch or it would have gone cold!) I left as well.

Nothing spectacular on the way to the lodging. This was pretty much the worst thing I expected from the pilgrimage. The long walk along lonely roads with only cherry trees, old japanese village sights different from big cities like Tokyo and friendly encouragements from occasional locals to keep me company. Thanks! All those kind words really help to get through these long asphalt paths.

My heels were giving grief again so it wasn't just bad tying up of shoes I had hoped. This was more serious and I started to think if I shouldn't consider taking rest day on monday before continuing.

At least mountains kept me company. Those cheered me up quite a bit.

Finally I reached the lodging furiai no sato sakamoto. I had no idea what to expect so was surprised to see very non-lodging type of building. As it turns out this was actually before elementary school that fell out of use like long time ago(I have read of this lodging from 90's already) and seems turned into some sort of lodging service thing by locals.

I have been curious about what japanese schools look like inside so went to manga museum in old school building in Kyoto and another old school building part of museum of old buildings. So this was another chance to see them inside(schools aren't exactly tourist spots you can freely enter...). I noticed I'm staying in former personal room of staff member in 2nd floor nearby 5th grade's room. I took a peek there as well. Standard tatami room. Wonder what sort of tables they had back then. Come to think when this school was last in use?

Anyway before heading to the temple I had got permission to leave stuff here eventhough it was too early to check in. I quickly took neccessary stuff with me(some drinks, bit food, stamp book, camera, usb battery for phone and pilgrim gear), took a rest and drank bit water before departure receiving map and explanation of route from the staff. Thanks! Albeit only piece I really needed "right from front gate" as after that signs took care of guiding but I appreciate the sentiment.

Going over the hill I spotted the hair salon she had mentioned and turned right. From there it was some climb before I entered pilgrim path. Escape from paved road at last! From here with sand on my feet and lack of kilos on my back it was almost like a rest day.

I climbed until I ran into another pilgrim resting next to steep drop watching amazing view. Turns out he was french(the one I had heard of! And 5th french I met this trip) who had already gone to the temple(starting much closer than I had) and was  now resting and eating. Excelent place for that with spectacular views.

After long talk during which he mentioned my pace was probably too fast if feet were now killing me(well yeah but not much leeway to slow down unless I want to split this into 3 years). Wish I could slow down a bit but not like I planned this high pace. Plans say much less distances than I have walked!

Eventually I headed toward the temple. Lots of walking through forests passing rest hut, couple small bridges and water falls and hearing lots of birds. But eventually I got close to the top and joined the car road and then finally got to the temple.

On the way up I noticed my shoe lace on right shoe was getting worn down. This could be problematic if I can't find one somewhere While it's okay for now if it breaks I'm stuffed. It was okay when I left lodging so something happened during the climb that did it.

Love these views!

Arrival to Bangai Bekkaku #3, Jigenji(Eye of Mercy temple). This is actually the oku-no-in of temple #20. That's quite a distance between temple and it's oku-no-in! If priests lived in 20 and came here for ascetic practice in olden days that's several hours walk one day.

This is not the main hall you are looking for. It's the Daishi hall.

Took a while to figure out main hall was elsewhere...After long climb about 500m ahead. I aske staff member about what kind of stores sell shoelaces but she couldn't help with it but did give me one spare. Not sure if length fits though(as it turns out didn't). I also ran into the Mrs. Bike again! She was surprised I had already made it here. Well walker path is much shorter than vehicle one. Again lots of chatting and when I headed toward main hall I could hear her talk about me to another pilgrim. Hopefully nothing too bad ;)

According to legend, Kōbō Daishi came to Jigenji when he was 19 years old and used esoteric prayers and rituals to conquer a dragon that had been causing the local inhabitants problems. After conquering the dragon he sealed it in the wall of a cave and carved the statue of Jûichimen Kannon Bosatsu which now serves as the honzon.

That's one steep hill to climb!

There was another group of pilgrims who based on somewhat stumbling chanting without anybody being really fluent I made educated guess this is NOT organized bus tour as those usually have staff member leading the chant so it sounds quite different. Maybe company workers on common pilgrimage?

The honzon is thought to be effective for curing all types of diseases and for helping to bring about financial good fortune.

Another group of men and 2 women came from nearby cave while I was around the main hall. This hole is supposedly very small and the example part near reception had convinced me I would have no time to do it so didn't pay 3000yen to go there. Pass for me. I would need to like halve myself to fit through that example part. Better safe than sorry. Seems you are also supposed to wear white gown available at the stamp office. Guess another symbol of purity/death/rebirth.

Really would have loved to visit it but not sure I would fit even without any overweight and with overweight just not feasible. Ah well.

I think I figured reason for heel pain. I have gel paddings for my shoes. Think those make shoes tad too small for me. Should have number higher. Heels felt lot different when I tried walking without them later.

 The cave has three chambers, with the third being about 100 meters from the entrance. Those who are able to reach it (and the passages get progressively tighter as you go deeper) are thought to pass a spiritual test. If you succeed you will have destroyed any evil spirits that reside in you. In addition, being able to pass through the particularly narrow passage into the innermost chamber assures you of an easy childbirth, success in examinations, health, wealth, and/or general good fortune. 

Sure sounds useful gains :D Well except easy childbirth. Don't think that would do much good for me ;)

The Daishi hall.

Back to Daishi hall. When I went to get my stamp we talked again and got total of 4 cookies as osettai. Thank you! Ate 2 on the spot, saved 2 for later. Kinda hard and dry but in unpleasant way. Bit hard to explain.

Eventually though time to head back. Still some time to get back to the lodging.

Steady knee breaking descent. Love climbing up, hate going down.

Apart from stopping at the rest hut which even had power sockets(wonder if it even has electricity here middle of mountain) and rested there for a while. Didn't take free orange this time though as lodging was very close as it is.

What socket does all this way in middle of mountain!

Old(like decades. Text says 65 years old but when was text written?) rice weaning/something like that machine. Used to get rice out of shells I think or something.

Finally reached the lodging and went to bath, put clothes for washing and then proceeded to dinner. There was also female and male walking pilgrims as a guests along with another men who spoke nothing during dinner and another one who didn't come while I was there. Maybe later.

Rest of night I spent resting, taking notes, talking with family and emptying a bit of candies etc I have received as osettai.

Tomorrow is hard day with 2 mountain temples and 1 mountain and fairly long distance to go. At least I have plenty of time as I will stay at business hotel in tokushima so no need to worry about check in time.