March 4

Our tent glowed as the sun rose and we greeted the new day.

The waves were restless last night and the noise hitting the shore kept us awake for part of the night. No complaints, we love the feel of the fresh air. We packed up and headed over to have breakfast in the office with the owners and the 10 cats. The cats are all kept inside at night and were lounging on the chairs when we arrived. The fire was going and warmed us up. Our breakfast was eggs and toast, felt very American. We have become fond of the Japaneses bread. It was a chilly morning, but the sun will soon be up and the day will become warm. The three story building holding all of the items has amazed us. We are so glad that we had the time to just stop here and enjoy this place.

The contents of this building impressed us!

As we headed down the highway we were excited to visit the first temple in the Kochi prefecture. We also had an ongoing conversation about whether we would see Takumi today. It was anyone’s guess until we saw a Henro walking toward us and realized it was Takumi! He wanted to share more things with us and we were excited to learn more. Today he had parked his van further down the road and rode his bicycle to a rest area, where he left it and started walking till he found us.

The rocks behind Takumi are called the Meoto Rocks or married couple. They are significant in the Shinto relgion Takumi wanted to make sure that we spent some time here and he would tell us about them.

We have seen the rocks from a distance so it is nice to be closing in one them.

The rocks are connected by a thick rope. It must have been quite a climb to get the ropes around the rocks. Apparently there are other rocks similar to these rocks around Japan. Takumi interpreted a stone plaque for us.

It is such a blessing to learn so much about this place from a person who lives here.

We have a ways to go before the next stop and Takumi walks with us. He loves music and has a lot of songs recorded on his iPhone, Picture this….the three of us (70 plus year olds) walking down the side of the road singing Country Road by John Denver. We had one of John Denver’s songs sung at our wedding so having just passed the married couple rocks it seemed appropriate to be singing songs by John Denver. Takumi said that he wanted to practice his English so he has enjoyed walking with us. We want to learn some Japanese. Starting with the numbers from 1 to 10 is our goal. Whenever we pass a sign with a number we get quizzed .

With song singing and number learning the miles go quickly. We come to a rest area where Takumi has left his bike. He tells us about the tall white statue of Kobo Dashi that we will pass before arriving to the temple. He has a plan of meeting us at the bottom of the path leading up to the temple and then taking our packs in his van so we don’t have to walk with them up the steep trail. (sounds great to us). We say good-by and move towards the large white statute that we see in the distance, This isn’t a temple, but placed here as a memorial to where Kobo Dashi spent time meditating and became known as Kukai. Kukai means sky/water. There is a cave nearby that is reported to be where he spent time.

The first thing that we notice is the two deities aren’t in a wooden cubical. (like they are at most of the temple gates.) They are on both sides of the path way leading to the statue.

We follow the stairs ending at the statue.

The statue stands over 68 feet tall. I am standing at the foot of the statue,

There is also a large statue in a prone position behind Kobo Dashi.

We are almost to the trail leading up to the temple when Sylvia, from Quebec rides up behind us. We met here several days ago at the guest house in Hiwasa when she told us where to leave our packs. She had been planning this pilgrimage for several years and had to postpone it due to Covid. She is excited to be here. She wanted to do some of the trail by bike and was given a bike. (osettai) It functions except the brakes may not be perfect. There is a road to the temple, but it is steep and Sylvia is wondering if she should leave her bike at the trailhead and then walk back to get it. Then Takumi pulls up in his van. He solves her dilemma. He can put the bike in the van with our packs and meet us at the top.

The trail up to the temple is steep, but not long and soon we are at the top and see the gate. We will be leaving one side of the peninsula and going down the other side to see the large bay of Tosa.

After having no temples for 50 miles, we are looking forward to getting back into a routine of visiting temples again.

After washing our hands, ringing the bell, and visiting both halls we are ready for Takumi to show us around this temple. We did learn something new about lighting candles today. For the previous temples if there was a candle already burning, we would light ours from it. Takumi informed us that the reason you carry a lighter is to light your own candle so it comes from you. He quickly bought us a lighter so we will be using it from now on. At the halls while we were meditating, we listened to Takumi and others say sutras. It is powerful just to listen.

Takumi motions for us to come and stand around a rock that had small holes on the top with rocks in them. Using these rocks you could hit the rock and a ringing sound would occur. It is called a sonorous rock.

We walked around as Takumi described a variety of items and buildings.

Sylvia, Don and I enjoyed all the information that Takumi shared with us.

We learned that Sylvia is going to be staying at the same guest house. The only way down from this temple if you are going to Temple 25 is to go down the steep road. Sylvia didn’t have faith in her bikes brakes and decides to catch a ride with Takumi. .Don and I walk admiring the view of the bay. It seems like we are going on to a new part of the Island and are looking forward to what we will learn.

Our guest house is in one of those homes below us. We arrive to find our packs waiting for us and Takumi gone.

We are welcomed into the home and showed our room. Don and I along with Sylvia are the only ones staying here tonight.

Our host takes our laundry to wash and gives us a yugata.(robe) We take a bath before dinner and then are ushered into a dinning room for a delicious meal. We meet three generations of women here. There is a younger girl, her Mother and we assume the grandmother. The two older women speak limited English so we use our translator and do the best we can to communicate. The younger girl has just completed high school and wants to go to college to study English. Her Mother asks me, if after dinner I will sit and talk with her. I gladly agree and we have some basic English conversation. Another good day has us smiling as we enjoy the futons on the tatami mats.

Accommodations. Uname-Noki

Miles hiked 15