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.
The water was calm this morning.
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.
Japanese Henro.
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.,
The description of the monument
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.
Trees are so well manicured.
Visiting one of the Halls.
An impressive dragon under the roof.
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.
Of course there is a goldfish pond.
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 water basin for purification.
The basin for placing your incense sticks after they have been lit.
The black basin you can rub for good health.
Shaking the hand of Kobo Daishi
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.
And a grassy area for our tent.
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