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