Joruriji(46),Yasakaji(47)Sairinji(48)Jodoji(49)Hantaji(50)B

September 08, 2024

March 28

Last night we told our hosts that we wanted to leave by 6. We have some steep terrain to walk down and if all goes as planned we will visit five temples of the 88 temples and one Bekkaku temple. After the temples we will head to our hotel in Matsuyama. This is the most temples we have visited in one day so hopefully we won’t feel rushed. According to the information that we have read, the grounds are relatively small and close to each other. Just as we were packing up we hear a knock on the door and it is our host with some packets of food for us. He wanted to say good by and wish us well. This has been a great stay.

It is first light as we make our way down to the road. The trail is steep and slippery, We are glad we have our trekking poles and staff. Easy does it and soon our feet are on solid ground and we can see the new direction is up. We pass by several houses and see these life sized puppets dressed up in warm clothing standing outside a house.

There are several more puppets as we continue up the road. Not sure if it is true, but someone said they represent people that have moved. There are two ways to get to the first temple. We can continue on the road or find a trail that will take us down the mountain. We look for the trail. Soon we see a sign going way from the road and go that way.

Way below us we see the town of Matsuyama. We have some steep hiking ahead. After a couple of hours going down and more down, we arrive to the first Temple Joruiji.

Joruji is the first of the 8 temples that are in the Matsuyama area. We head up the stairs to check it out.

It is almost garden like as we wind around the numerous plants to find the different halls. The red Tori gate stands out.

An old juniper in the middle of the grounds stands over 60 feet tall and is said to be over 1000 years old

There is a rock to put your hands on for good health.

We enjoyed walking thru all of the pathways. Once again this is a very different temple

The next temple is less than a mile away.

We pass houses with beautiful potted flowers outside.

We approach the temple Yasakaji and walk up to the gate.

This temple is known as the temple of eight slopes. Apparently there were 8 different roads that met at this temple.

As usual we do our routine and try to see as much as possible. We are feeling more rushed than we usually do.

Between this temple and Sairinji Is Bekkaku 9. We head in to check it out.

After visiting the halls we went into get our book signed and were given two small dolls as Osettai.

A couple of miles later we head up the pathway to visit Sairinji.

The temple means Temple of the western Forest.

The buildings are tightly packed between a canal and highway, It was easy to check out the grounds.

It is a rainy day and not many people are visiting this temple.

A lot of temples have the goldfish pond.

It is a another short walk to the next temple Jodoji . Last week we went several days not visiting temples, now we are visiting 6 in one day. Once again steps lead us to the gate.

The deities on both sides had colorful strings of origami cranes.

There was a group of Japanese pilgrims visiting this temple. We enjoy listening to their chants often done as a group.

The last temple that we plan to visit today is Hantaji. We pass a shrine on the way displaying the Japanese flag.

We are always amazed when the route takes as on narrow sidewalks between houses.

We climb the steps to the last temple of the day,

Beautiful linens and strands of orgami are in front of one of the halls.

The bell tower dates back to 1696 and has 24 beautiful paintings on its ceiling.

Being underneath has protected them from damage.

From the temple grounds we can see the city of Matsuyama where we are headed. It is beginning to rain. We are glad that we got to visit all the temples and are ready to go find our hotel.

We walk back to the hotel with the rain pouring and our umbrellas put to good use. Walking along the city streets, obeying the traffic lights and watching out for cars is such a contrast from being in the mountains this past week. We find our business hotel called Comfort Inn. We check in at the desk, get our key to a room on the eleventh floor and pick up a breakfast ticket for tomorrow morning. Apparently the hotel is pretty full so breakfast is eating in shifts. After arriving to our room, we turn on the TV to the information channel. We scroll down to the laundry facilities and discover it tells how many machines are in use and if in use when the cycle will be completed.

laundry soap is included and is automatically added to the wash.

Don and I went down together to put our laundry into the machine. We did not use our room card to open and shut the elevator door. I went down to retrieve our laundry with my yugata (bath robe) on. I didn’t realize that after 5;00 you needed to use your room key to operate the elevator. I ended up getting stuck in the elevator till a kind woman alerted the desk to my situation. I was able to return to our room and get the room card before returning to get the laundry. Tonight we planned out the day for tomorrow. We plan on visiting 3 temples and then take a train back to the station near our hotel.

Ishiteji(51)Taisanji(52)Enmyoji(53)Isaniwa Jinga Shrine

September 07, 2024

March 29

It was somewhat of a leisurely morning as we couldn’t eat breakfast till 6:30 and we didn’t have to pack up our backpacks. We were just going with light daybags to visit the three temples today plus explore some of the town. The rain of yesterday had gone and we were back to a sunny spring like day. The route to the temple was along a green space next to a river so for most of the walk to the temple was not on busy streets. This temple along with Temple 12 and Temple 45 are some of the more visited temples It is definitely recommended to take your time as you explore Ishiteji. It is also the second largest temple.

When we arrived to the gate, we immediately felt that this was going to be a special temple. It is called the Temple of the Stone Hand. The legend of this temple and how it began is about a man called Emon-Saburo. We have encountered Emon-Saburo several times before arriving here. Emon -Saburo wronged Kobo Daishi and then tried to make amends by walking the pilgrimage route to find him. On his 21st circle of the pilgrimage he finally ran into Kobo Daishi near temple 12, who forgave him and granted his wish to be reincarnated as an honored Lord that could do good. Kobo gave the man a stone with a message. Later a young boy was born with a small rock clenched in his hand. When his hand opened, the rock claimed that this was the reincarnation of Emon Saburo. One of his good deeds was to build the temple Ishiteji

We enter the gate and immediately notice the straw sandals hanging on each side of the gate.

Numerous coins were stuck between the layers of straw.

Just past the gate is a large Buddhist symbol that is often seen in the temples.

Heading further in we pass by numerous souvenir shops before coming to the main grounds of the temple.We are quickly in awe of all the things to explore. One of the first people that we meet is Renee. She got here earlier and has discovered some tunnels and other places that we should visit. We appreciated the information as we are not sure that we would have found the things she mentioned. There are a lot of paintings as well as numerous small and large statues spread thru out.

The other items that seem to have a theme here is circular balls placed around the grounds. We were told that touching them brings good luck.

The balls were in various sizes and colors.

One section of the ground had numerous small rocks, some with names on them

The story of the rocks went like this. If you want a child, you take a rock with you and return it after the birth to be thankful for a safe birth.

We never figured out what this building was used for, but we are sure that it had some purpose.

Renee had told us about two tunnels that we should see. The first one was a tunnel under a mountain leading to the outside of the grounds.

Inside were statues of Buddhas and other artifacts. This temple had some lighting as you made your way thru to the other side.

Once you got to the other side you could look up on a hill and see the large statue of Kobo Daishi.

We went back thru the tunnel to check out more things on the grounds.

One was the Pagoda.

We also checked out a museum which had descriptions of some of the displays in English hoping to give a better understanding of Buddhism.

Near the museum was another tunnel.

This tunnel was in complete darkness and you had to feel the walls to make your way thru, Some of the tunnels led to dead ends. Eventually you found yourself in a meditation room with tatami mats.

The other side of this room led to the outside where more statues were located.

We headed back in to the main grounds to get our book signed. We saw Lisa who we told about the tunnels and then we saw Benjamin. This was his second time being here so he was aware of most of the things to see. He did want to share more places to camp. He is quite helpful and fun to talk with. I am sure we missed some things of interest, but we did see a lot. We easily spent two hours here taking it all in.

We started heading to the next temple waking thru the streets of Matsuyama. The Isaniwa Shrine was on our way so once again we head up the stairs to the Temple.

The Description of the Temple

Heading back down as we look over the city.

On the next street we see the famous Dogo Onsen. It is one of the oldest public baths in Japan. It is so busy now that you have to have a reservation to enter.

We didn’t get one so we just got to look on the outside.

We passed thru a covered street with stores on both sides, along with cherry blossom decoration.

We watched kids having fun catching water as it randomly splashed out among the colorful blocks on the ground.

When we saw one of our favorite convenience stores, we headed into buy some lunch. Benjamin was sitting out front using his phone. He added a couple more places for us to potentially camp.

We head out of town to go to Temple 52. We notice what looks like an obstacle course in the water.

As we were coming up with ideas, a golf ball lands near us in the water. We have just witnesses a golf shooting range.

Golfers are hitting the balls from here.

As we get closer to Taisanji (52), we can understand why it is called Temple of the Big Hill. It is located on a steep hill. It even has two gates that we pass through.

After all that walking up .there is a rock to rub for healing

This is one of the oldest temples of the route dating back to 1305

The last temple of today is under 2 miles away.

It is smaller, but as usual, there are unique things to see. Lisa told us that she was told there was a special sculpture here of the Virgin Mary in disguise. We may have found it , but were not sure. Supposedly Christians could come to this temple to worship without being suspiocious.. Don took his book to be signed and thought the women signing his book was the best calligrapher so far. That says a lot, because they have all been impressive. We said goodbye to Lisa and Benjamin and headed to the train station

The train station was a small open building with benches and a ticket machine, Using our google translator, we figured out how to buy a ticket to the station we wanted. It was on time and we chugged our way to the main station in town. We were so fortunate that our hotel is close by. First though we googled a camping store to see if we could find a small canister of fuel. We were in luck when they had a whole carton of canisters. They had just opened in Feb. and were well supplied. They gave us a gift from their opening celebration.

We stopped at a bakery and had some quiche and pizza for dinner. Before heading back to our hotel we checked out the very well lit and undercover mall.

There was one place that we did not get to visit today, the Matsuyama Castle. It sits high on a hill above town just like the other castles. We used it as a landmark knowing where our hotel was in relation to the castle.

Back to our hotel and planning for tomorrow. It will just be a walking day with no temples. Actually we are taking the train back to where we got it today.

Arriving back to the hotel, we had a bit of a ceremony as we said good-by to our first pair of hiking shoes. Looking forward to the only pair of hiking shoes is the one on our feet.

Accommodation Comfort Hotel

Walked 18 miles slack packing

No Temples, just walking

September 06, 2024

March 30

Last night we decided that we should forgo breakfast in the dining hall. We will just get up early, go to the train station, catch an early train and then go walking. We woke up at 4, some of that was because we went to bed early after a busy day yesterday. By 6 we were headed to the train station. We were being challenged when we looked at the route schedule on the board and did not see the station we wanted to go to. Asking the employee at the desk was a good move. He told us that the train we wanted was at another station. He suggested waiting for the bus, but the station we wanted was less than a mile away. That distance isn’t a problem. We got to the station easily, found the train on the schedule we needed and bought the ticket. In less than five minutes we were on the way to Horie. This train was more direct than the one we took last night. In about 20 minutes we were getting off the train and heading to our destination tonight. We were intrigued by the fancy paint work on a car we passed.

We were back walking on the coast today. For most of the day we had a nice ocean breeze to cool us off.

We were always excited to stop- at 7/11 stores and get refreshing fruit smoothies. We saw Renee, most likely for the last time as she is heading off to visit more Bekkau temples. As we were walking down the road, a woman came running out to Don and handed him a tissue. When he opened it up it was a 1000 yen note. Don had hardly time to say thank you when she turned abruptly and went back to her house.

The other nice thing on the walk today was all of the little honest fruit stands selling citrus fruit. We stopped several times to enjoy the fresh fruit. We got to our campsite about 4, It was a little off route, but not by much. We were surprised to see how busy it was. Lots of families were here enjoying the beach and camping. We cooked our one pot meal and was fascinated by the young man camping next to us who was cooking a gourmet meal for himself. It wasn’t long till we were tucked in to our sleeping bags. Tomorrow there are 6 temples close together that we hope to visit.

Accommodation Kamoikekaifan campground

Miles hiked @ 20 miles

Enmeiji(54)Nankobo(55)Taisanji(56)Eifukuji(57)Senyuji(58) Kokubunji(59)

September 05, 2024

March 31

We slept mostly well in the campground near the beach. There was enough wave action to lull us to sleep, but in the middle of the night a strong gusty wind woke us up and we heard other campers securing their shelters. We were thankful that our tent held up well. We were up by 5 and left by 6 before any other campers were stirring.

It was about a mile walk to pick up the Henro route. It was a warm morning feeling like a Spring day and the cherry blossoms continue to explode.

The sunlight highlighted this sculpture.

As well as these strands of origami.

We stopped at Family Mart for breakfast before heading up a hill to Temple 54. We walked thru the gate and at once were surprised by all the people here. It was a bus tour group.As we head into Spring large bus groups may be more prevalent.

A couple photos of the grounds. The gate of this temple was formerly an original gate from Imabari castle.

After visiting the Main Hall and Daishido, we head over to get our book signed. There are only a few people in line but then we realize that the office has a stack of 30 books sitting on the desk to be signed first. They are from the tour group. The books are gathered by one of the leaders and then all of them are taken to the desk to be signed. Most of the calligraphy takes at least a minute to sign the book. The wait could be over 30 minutes. While I wait in line Don visits with a Japanese Henro. He is going counter clockwise. They exchange name slips.

The next temple is about 2 miles away. Passing houses with traditional roof styles is always fun to check out.

On the way to the temple we pass numerous okunoin(cemeteries).

We also pass this monument and makes us realize why it is so important to pray for peace.,

Soon we approach the second temple of the day. This temple has an unusual name that ends in bo. Most temples end in Ji.The last destruction of this temple was in 1945 at the end of WW!!. The buildings that we see here were built between 1981-1991 so it is one of the newer temples.

The gate has interesting deities on both sides.

One has their mouth open and the other one has a closed mouth.

Each temple has similarities and each temple is different.

The next temple is less than 2 miles away. We pass a church with Happy Easter written in front of the church. We have only seen a couple of churches.

The temple Taisanji was originally the residence of Emperor Junna from 823 to 833. Often there are large boulders located on the grounds. This one had a boulder next to the statue of Kobo Daishi.

Our fourth temple of the day is again less than 2 miles away. It is mostly flat passing rice fields,

This temple does not have a gate. Below are some photos from the grounds.

And of course there is a cherry tree here.

Temple 58 is one of the shortest distances today, but also one of the steepest. One can take the road up to the temple, but we chose to take the shorter steeper path. First we entered the gate.

And then continued up the steep path to the temple.

Temple 58 has a guest house, but when Takumi tried to make a reservation for us it was full. The grounds sit on top of a hill making for a good view of the town of Imabari below.

The sky was hazy, which may be because of pollution coming from China. We hadn’t thought of that. We thought there might have been fires in the area.

Like all temples the grounds are well taken care of.

We ate our lunch here before continuing on to the last temple.

For the last temple we will have to walk about 4 miles, mostly down hill back to the coast. Some of the walk is next to a highway.

A Japanese man who has been at each temple with us, is also going to the last one. We haven’t spoke but wave and smile a lot as we realize we are both Henoes,

Temple 59 is the last of the Imari Temples We head up to the last gate of the day.

It seems like it has been a non stop day, but fortunately the temples were close together.

The basin for placing your incense sticks after they have been lit.

The black basin you can rub for good health.

We take the coastal path away from the temple, stopping at a Family Mart for dinner and to buy breakfast for tomorrow. We are heading to Fureal Hiroba to camp along the beach. The walking is easy and soon we see a park that we assume we can camp. There is no one here, but the bathrooms are open. There is a beach.

Soon after we set up our tent, the rain begins to fall, hard at times. Another couple in a car arrive to set up their tent. They quickly run back and forth to the car trying to set up the tent in the rain and get their camping gear. We feel fortunate that we were able to get set up before the rain and had eaten dinner in town. A long day with so many temples.

Accommodation Camping at Fureal Hiroba

Miles Hiked 18

No temples, Back to the Mountains

September 04, 2024

April 1.

Hard to believe that we just started the last month that we are going to be in Japan. Everyday brings new experiences and an appreciation of life. Our tent fly was soaked from the hard rain of last night. We packed it up and headed to the costal path. The morning sunrise was beautiful.

It sure seems that the day is going to bring us sunshine.

As we continued our walk along the coast we came to more campgrounds that had more people camped in them. We were glad that we had stopped when we did. Time to leave the coast and start heading up. We don’t have any temples to visit today, but we will start our climb up the mountain to temple 60, which we hope to visit tomorrow.

One of the areas that we passed was a field of the small trucks that are very common here. It didn’t surprise us when we saw how neatly this junk yard was organized.

We walk up a highway that doesn’t have a lot of traffic. In fact today we are just about on all roads, but they are secondary roads that see little car traffic.

Don spots another mancover with cherry blossoms.

We pass the vending machine warehouse. Unfortunately there were no operating vending machines here just ones to be sent out.

We cross a road and begin our climb upwards. Today has been one of the warmer days and we have been using our umbrellas as shade for a lot of the day. As we climb higher, the cherry trees come alive with their beauty.

We could never figure out the purpose of the yellow building.

There is a stream that we hike along to where we are spending the night.

Benjamin told us about this rest hut. It filled the requirements, no houses around, and bathrooms. When we first arrived there were several cars in the parking lot, but by 5 they were all gone. It was just us and the beautiful cherry tree that was next to the rest hut.

There is a spring across from the rest hut for water. We check out the trail that will take us up to Temple 60 then return to the hut to have some dinner and put on an extra layer of clothes before getting into our sleeping bags. It is going to be cold tonight.

Accommodation Rest Hut before climb to Temple 60

Miles hiked 15

Yokomineji(60)Koonji(61)Hojuji(62)Kichijoji(63)

September 03, 2024

April 2

We woke about 5 and were happy that no one had come up during the night. It was so peaceful with the bubbling stream below us and the cherry tree in full bloom beside us. The climb up to Temple 60 is about a mile and a half, which doesn’t sound too bad until you realize there is an average climb of 28%. This is known as a “Henro Korogashi” the place where pilgrims fall down. If it is raining it is recommended that you avoid this trail. We started up and were immediately surrounded by the forest.

We enjoyed the stream that our path followed.

Stone bridges helped with the stream crossing. We continue to hike up.

We have arrived to the gate.

It was just about 8 when we crossed under the gate. Temples usually open around 8, There was only one other pilgrim here when we arrived.

I wish I could play a video of this bird singing. Almost as soon as we arrived a small wren started singing from the top of one of the buildings. It was magical.

This temple is known for the blooming of the Rhododendron in May.

Behind this statue of Kobo Daishi are the rhododendron plants.

The Bell sounded thru out the mountain. This temple is located at one of the highest area about 2,460 feet.

There have only been a few people here since we arrived. Each person lights 3 incense sticks.

No one was at this hall. We decided to climb up to the okunion behind the temple to get a vies of Mt. Ishizuchi, the highest peak on Shikoku.

We have been blessed with the weather.
When we returned back to the temple grounds, a tour bus had arrived.

It wasn’t as peaceful as when we first arrived.

We have about 4 miles of downhill hiking then a couple of miles on flat ground.

This trail also has some steep down hills. We pass a waterfall that can be used for water meditation. We took our time as we didn’t want to become the pilgrim that fell down and remained there.

Eventually we made it down to the bottom, going by a huge gravel plant, that was quite old. We were looking forward to checking out the 7/11 store before the next temple. We could almost taste the smoothie, but alas this store didn’t have a smoothie machine. The next best thing is frozen blueberries with yogurt. With food in our stomachs we were ready to check out the next 3 temples. Koonji temple 61 had a unique hall that almost looked like a gymnasium. It doubled as the main hall as well as the Dashido Hall

Building can hold over 650 people and is used as a conference center. The cherry blossoms have become one of our focuses.

We never tire of looking at the blossoms.

The next temple was less than a mile away and is very small squeezed between a highway and a railroad. For awhile due to its small size. bus groups were not allowed to come. This has changed. What Hojuji lacks in size, it makes up for it in some of the colorful displays.

The flags were over where the ladles are for washing your hands. In the water are blue and yellow beads.

The halls though small were draped with purple cloth.

One of my favorite displays were the wind chimes that chimed when the wind blew.

Our next and last temple for the day is about a mile away.

We enter the gate to Kichijoji.

We liked the elephants guarding the entrance.

This temple like temple 53 also had a hidden statue of the Virgin Mary. This was so Christians could worship here when it was forbidden and do so in disguise. We were never sure if we found the Virgin Mary..

Leaving the last temple for the day.

We have been in contact with Clark who we met the first day. He is probably about a week ahead of us so we enjoy getting his updates. He recommended a Udon restaurant that is near the group of Temples. He described the location and we were able to find it. We are definitely ready for lunch. The restaurant was cafeteria style and was quite busy. After watching several people get in line and get food, we were ready to go for it. I am sure we were asked questions, that we didn’t understand, but the end result was we got some delicious Udon noodles.

It is proper in Japan to slurp your needles. We are working on that. While there Don checked out the Cherry Blossom report. We should be hitting peak real soon.

We are on the island south of Hiroshima.

Our next task is to find our lodging for the night. We have basic directions, and with the help of neighbors pointing we found Nojima House. Our host is waiting there to give us directions. He doesn’t live in the house but invites pilgrims to stay there while on their pilgrimage. We are the only ones in the house tonight and have an upstairs room. He asks us if we would like to go to dinner with him and gives us some choices. Don is excited about trying Sushi and when the option comes up we says yes! He said I will pick you up at 7. It has been a long day, so we take s short nap and are ready to go when Mr. Taniguchi returns. Mr Taniguchi has a reputation on Facebook for being one of the nicest hosts and we agree, He is very helpful. Off we go and it seems like this restaurant is not real close. I almost fall asleep in the back seat. When we pull in we see the name of the restaurant. It is Hamazushi. This is the sushi restaurant that we wanted to go to a couple of towns back, but we weren’t sure how it worked.

No worries tonight we have a guide. The restaurant is almost fully automated. When you walk in the door there is a computer that you punch with how many are in your party. You are given a number and then which table you will sit at. When our turn comes we head off to our table.

At each booth there is a conveyor belt just above the table. You can it in this photo. At the table is an iPad with the menu of items. You push the key of the item you want and soon here comes your food winging down the conveyor belt and stopping at your table

He ordered items just to see them stop at our table. It was so much fun.

After even ordering a dessert, it was time to head back to Nojima House and reflect on our day. Not to mention this was our 47th wedding anniversary.

Accommodation Nojima House

Miles hiked 12

A Day of Rest!

September 02, 2024

April 3

After getting back to the Nojima house last night, we tried to find lodging for tonight. We tried to book a Henro House, but it was full. Another house was almost too close to this one. We looked at the weather and it was for hard rain for most of the day. We gave it some thought and if the Nojima house had a vacancy for tonight we would ask to stay here. We will message him and hopefully it will work. We also found out last night that Amy, a woman we have met several times is planning on staying here tonight. She wants to go to temple 60 like we did and then stay here. With rain in the forecast, going up that trail might not be wise. Don sent her a message in the middle of the night and gave her his opinion about waiting a day before going to that temple. If she decides not to hike we will see her tomorrow. Amy sent us a note a couple of days ago, about her visit to temple 50. When she was putting her name slip in the box, she looked down and saw our names. It made her smile.

We found out that our room was available and that Amy had taken our advice and was going to wait a day before visiting temple 60. With no need to go anywhere, this will mostly be a day of rest and doing some planning for the next couple of days. We headed out to a convenience store in the morning for breakfast and upon returning found Amy here. It was great to catch up. Mr. Tangiguchi asked if we wanted to go to an Udon restaurant tonight. Amy was game as well so he picked us up at 7 and we had a great meal and conversation.

Accommodation Nojima House

Miles Hiked zero! It was our first day of no hiking!

Ishizuchi-jinja shrine,Maegamiji(64)Hagyuji Temple

September 01, 2024

April 4

When we finished this day, we realized that taking a relaxing day yesterday was very important. Today had so many experiences! Yesterday when talking to Amy she told us about a Shinto shrine that we would pass before arriving to Temple 64. She said that it is not to be missed. The cherry blossoms caught our eye as soon as we started walking today.

This next week I have a feeling we are going to be taking lots of photos of the blossoms. We quickly realized what Amy was talking about when we saw the large Tori gates leading into the Shinto Shrine.

There were two of them, One being orange and one being stone. The gate had two stone lions at the entrance.

And a different deity than we have seen before.

As we continued to walk into the temple grounds, we were surrounded by waterfalls, fish ponds and forests. It set the atmosphere of being peaceful.

There were steep steps leading up to other buildings.

One of the buildings appeared to be used for meetings.

As we were checking out some of the other buildings here, we noticed monks with different colored bottoms and white jackets approaching this building.

There were also females walking into the building who had red colored bottoms. Shortly afterwards a drum began beating and then chanting began interspersed with drumming. There were seats outside of the building that we sat in and listened.
This is so fascinating . As the chanting continued we walked towards a wall surrounding the area and saw the city of Saijo.

Notice the red Tori gate in front of the shrine entrance.

As we were heading back down the stairs a group of monks holding platters of food left the building and walked to some of the different memorials. They were leaving the food in front of memorials.

At one of the buildings closer to the entrance we met Lisa. She also had been drawn in to check out the Shinto Shrine.

As we were leaving the Shrine, a monk who had delivered the food was in front of us.

I doubt with all the rain that fell yesterday we would have spent much time here if any. On to Temple 64 which is right next to the shrine.

This temple is spread out and we had to follow different paths to find the different halls. There were different tour groups here so we just followed them.

There was a statue under a water fall perhaps for waterfall meditation.

So many different statures.

As we were leaving this temple we encountered Jean Pierre Louis and Anne.

They were hiking with a woman from Israel who they had met last year when they were doing the first part of the route. She lived in the United States for 34 years and had retired to Israel. Her goals in retirement were to walk as much as possible and learn new languages. We did some catching up and then said our good byes. We thought that we were done with temples today, but that was not the case.

We had couple of route options and we opted for one that seemed to take more back roads. We are intrigued by all the rice fields and the different stages of growth that rice fields seem to be in.

As we walked along a pathway we noticed that cherry lanterns were lined up on both sides.

Then we saw why, there was a cherry festival going on. It was time to go check it out.

Our biggest challenge was to figure out which food to try. Couldn’t decide on just one, so we tried several.

Crepes, strawberry treats, fried cheese sticks, chicken nuggets and ice cream

Back to walking to walk some of those calories off.

Always enjoy the daffodils blooming.

After leaving the cherry festival, we thought that our next destination was our campground for the night. As we were walking down the street we noticed a young man who was walking on the other side of the street. He was walking parallel to us then he crossed the street and was walking next to us. He was typing on his phone and then handed it to us. He told us that he was going to visit a temple that wasn’t on the 88 temple route, but he thought that it was a very important temple. We said that we would like to go with him. We were camping tonight so didn’t have any obligations to be at the campground at a certain time. It wasn’t very far from the street. In fact we could see the roof of it from the highway. As we walked towards the temple, he told us about some of the difference between Shinto and Buddhism religions using his phone. As we got closer we could see the eyes on the top of the temple.

We walked thru the gate.

And saw the large statue of Kobo Daishi

Next stop was the basin to wash one’s hands with this description.

Nearby was this sculpture of Kobo Dasishi feet and this description.

After we had walked around the grounds looking at various things. Our friend went over to the office and knocked on the window. There was no response, but in front of the window was stamps that you could stamp your book. We asked our new friend to please do that for us.

He very carefully applied the stamps to our book. Just as he was finishing the last stamp, the Monk appeared and came out to talk to us. He wanted to know about us and why we were here. We told him and then he said would you like to see the inside of the Hall. Of course we said,” yes. “We took off our shoes and he led us into a room with a large sand mandala. He showed us the procedure for creating this masterpiece.

The white circle in the middle is from the light hanging above the mala. It is a form of meditation to build this sand mala.

Around the room were many different things. Some were about the Dalai Lama who had visited this temple. In fact this temple is known as patterned after Tibetan Buddhism.

The Monk who was showing us around had met the Dalai Lama several times.

A book from the Dalai Lama was displayed here. As we returned to where our shoes were, the Monk asked us again our purpose for being here. When we answered , he said follow me. He led us down a flight of stairs that went under the temple. The room was dimly lit, but enough to see the figures going around the wall. The monk explained that the figures represented the 88 deities of all the temples that we will or have visited. There were also more representing the deities from Koyasan. We felt fortunate to experience this unexpected event. We went back outside and as we were saying goodby, the Monk said that he wanted to go to Yellowknife to see the northern lights. We gave him one of our stickers of the Aurora Borealis from Alaska. He then went to his office and gave us a pen and a sticker of the temple. Then it was picture time.

Our new friend.

Don and I with smiles, what a day!

What a blessing to meet this man.

We said goodby to the young man and headed to the campground. We thought it was going to be direct, but as we passed a small store, we saw that this was where they made tatami mats. One of the employees saw us looking and invited us into the store. He showed us the process of how the mats are made then gave us little pockets made our of the material as ossettai.

By this time we didn’t have much daylight left so we had to keep moving as not to set up our tent in the dark. Perhaps if we had more time we would have checked out this coffee house.

It would have been fun to check the inside out. but not today.

Soon we saw the turnoff to the campground. When we arrived the office was closed, but the bathrooms were open. There was a sign showing us where to camp and soon, the tent was up and we were asleep . What a day.

Our campground

Accommodation Shiminnomori Park

Miles hiked 17.5