Feb.29
We heard noises in the kitchen at 5 as the food preparation for breakfast at 6 began. Our hosts, daughter had come into help. It was a delicious breakfast consisting of miso soup, pickled veggies, salad, eggs and ham, yogurt with fruit and nato(fermented soy beans)
We love the small quantites and the varieties of food that are served. Our host also gave us as osettai( rice wrapped in seaweed) for lunch today. There are not any food sources today so we are carrying food that we purchased yesterday. we appreciate the rice as well.
The path between Temples 20 and 21 is known as another hard hike. Along with the hike to temple 12 this section is also known as a Korogashi (where pilgrims fall down) in other words travel carefully. We wave good by to our very hospitable host.
This was a fun stay.
We start out on pavement, but then turn and head up on a steep trail.
Soon we will be on a dirt trail.
As we travel upwards, the view below us opens up. After climbing to the top of this mountains and visiting the temple we will then head down to the valley and up the other side.
We will cross the river below.
At a little over midway, we came upon this map of the trail. It shows the trail that we will take to the next temple.
The faint white line is our trail to temple 21
We continue up a very steep trail appreciative of the built ins wooden steps. When we reach the top there are a number of volunteers working on the trail. This temple is known for having volunteers to help keep up the temple.
When we reached the top of the stairs and noticed a man sweeping near the gate. He gave us a big smile and we recognized him as the son in law of the host that we had stayed with last night. He must be one of the volunteers as well.
When we came to the gate, we noticed that there was something different about the two deities that are usually found on both sides. This temple has cranes on both sides of the gate.
The gate
We walked thru the very clean path to the main buildings.
Old cedar trees and old buildings make up the Temple grounds. The main hall was built in 1604.
Cranes were placed throughout the Temple grounds. Two bronze crane statues were situated on both sides of the main hall. There was also a linen cloth with a crane drawn on it.
Again we appreciate the variety of the temples. It is so easy to see why the Japanese people return time after time to visit here. We met a couple of non-japanese pilgrims who are going to be at our lodging tonight. They thought that the climb to this temple was difficult. They were both smoking cigarettes that probably didn’t help. One of them has a sore knee and may take a bus instead of hiking. We will talk more with them tonight.
Time to head down the steep trail to the river. We both thought the trail down was steeper than the way up.
Tomo had told us about this route and we were glad that we took it.
We made it to the bottom and crossed the bridge. Apparently in the olden days of walking this trail, there was no bridge.
When we reached the other side the climb up began. We were surprised to find that most of the trail was paved.
We were so surprised when we encountered a vehicle on this road coming down the mountain. We had to hug the cliff when it passed us. There was a very steep drop off on the other side. Glad to say there was no incident from the encounter.
Temple 21 Tairyuji This temple is one of the most visited due to the fact that you can take a cable car to here and avoid the hike.
The bell tower was unique.
We spent quite a bit to time exploring all the different memorials and buildings scattered throughout the mountain top.
Often the main halls are covered by a lattice that you can look thru to check out the elaborate inside. No photos are allowed.
More buildings.
The rain began falling and the temperature was dropping. Don headed over to the office to get his book signed. The head monk signed his book and when he found out that we were from Alaska, he came out to take our picture. We got one of him as well.
He told us that a rain storm was coming and we should get off the Mountain as soon as possible. On our way down, not to far from the temple we should take some small side trails to see some sculptures. There were both impressive, but the one of Kobo Dashi sitting looking over the valley was amazing.
We thought we were going to see the Kobo Dashi statue, but came to this one first.
On the other side was Kobo Dashi,
Th statue was looking over the mountains.
Great view, but the rain was coming so we didn’t stay long.
Before we got to the bottom, the skies opened up and the rain poured. We had our umbrellas out as well as putting on our rain jacket and rain pants.
A rest area on the way down gave us a little respite from the rain.
Very interesting.
We were on the move. we wanted to get to Byodoji (22) before it closes and still arrive to our guest house tonight. We picked up our pace and arrived to the Temple. We were struck by the colorful banner going from the gate to the main temple.
This one has the deities on both sides of the gate. One always has their mouth open and one has their mouth closed.
We thought that the banner was for a special occasion, but it is always up.
Banner going by the bell tower.
The colors at the main hall match the colors of the banner.
By now, we are wet and ready to find the Panda House. We have vague directions and head to the general area. Then we see a huge panda painted on the side of a house. This has to be it. We are hoping are telephone calls two days ago resulted in a reservation. We knocked on the door and found out, yes they were waiting for us. We went to a garage to take off our very wet outer clothing. The two guys that we had met at temple 20 had arrived shortly. before us. There was a hot bath waiting for us and soon our cold bodies were warm. Dinner was served soon afterwards. It seemed to be a combination of western and Japanese food. There was a lot of it and we finally said we were full.
The two guys thought our packs looked big, and when we explained we had camping gear with us, they were somewhat surprised, When they stayed with someone in Tokushima at the start of the trip, theywere recommended to leave camping gear behind and they did. We are hoping that iour gear will give us flexibility when we get to more rural areas and there are designated campsites. I guess we will find out.
Accommodation : Panda House
Miles Hiked 14 miles