April 14
Nice night in our upscale hotel. I think though we sleep just as well in our sleeping bag and tent. No complaints about taking a hot bath! We were up by 6 and walking down the highway on a Sunday morning with very little traffic. We crossed a bridge that had a story about an archer.
Even the bridge had images of the archer on it. Looks like it is going to be a beautiful day.
It was a paved path to temple 84, that was steep in places. We encountered walkers coming down, must be a good activity for a Sunday morning walk. One walker gave Don and I each a bag of candy.
Easy walking on a paved path. We were glad when we reached the gate.
This is a large complex set on top of a mountain. It was early so the grounds were pretty quiet.
We learned about why there are so many Badger statues around. Apparently, the badger led Kobo Daishi to safety when it was foggy and he had gotten lost.
There was a stone mural about one of the battles that occurred in this area.
Looks the archer played an important part of the battle
There were a couple of very nice Ryokans looking over the sea below. Beautiful day for checking out the islands.
There was also an aquarium here and looking thru the fence we saw a very sad looking dolphin. Time to head down the mountain and then back up to the next temple. It was a steep path going down and we were glad that it wasn’t raining. We stopped at Lawson’s for breakfast. On the way we passed these stone rocks.Before arriving to the next temple Takumi told us about a friend of his that has a tea house on the path upward. It is essentially a rest hut for Pilgrims. It was easy to spot and we were immediately invited to sit on the porch. She brought us ice tea, rice pudding and cookies. It was a great treat. We talked for awhile using a translator and her basic English. She invited us to come and check out her tea room. It would have been fun to have tea with her.
This was a fun stop. She also gave Don and I two of the ceramic Henroes that were wrapped and put into a small cotton sack. On the way to the rest hut, we passed these unique stone figures.
Another house that made our hike interesting was this one that had driftwood items.
Someone has a sense of humor!
It was over 3 miles to this temple from the last one and it was paved, only becoming steep at the end.
We are starting to realize that our Pilgrimage is getting close to the end. This temple instead of being at the top of the mountain is about 200 feet below the summit. We still get a good view of the city below us.
And there is a good sculpture of Kobo Dashi with the blue sky behind him.
Here comes the gate.
With interesting deities
We haven't seen too many of the deities painted blue.
A two story pagoda was tucked into the trees.
There were a lot of dog figures in front of the Halls.
Several groups of bus pilgrims arrived when we were here
Time to head back to the coast and visit the last two temples. The next temple is about 4.5 miles away and downhill.
We see the temple beside the street and head into the gate.
Once passing thru the gate we enter into the world of green
Paths take us to different parts of the temple
And we check out the pagoda
More paths and more Halls
Beautiful blooming flowers added to the garden like environment.
Just as we were leaving a bus tour of Pilgrims arrived, we were glad that we got our book singed in the office before they got in line. It was a little over 4.5 miles to the last temple of the day. We walked briskly and arrived there at 4:45. We had 15 minutes before the office closed. We were still able to do the rituals, they were just a bit rushed. The office closes, but the temple is still open. It is fairly small so we were able to check it out before we left. Don and I were the only ones here.
Someday we hope this is true.
Right across the street from this temple is our lodging for the night.
It is mainly run like a hostel for Henroes. The supervisor showed us around
We enjoyed the photo and the poem on the wall in the dining area.
After we had settled into our room, we walked over to the grocery store. We are always challenged going from the convenience stores to a larger grocery store. There are so many more choices, and we aren’t sure what most of them are. We especially enjoy the fruit section. We get enough food for dinner, and breakfast. On the way back to our lodging Don sees a barber shop. They aren’t busy and can cut his hair. He was in for a treat. I went back to our room and began getting a little concerned when he hadn’t returned. Finally when he did he was all smiles. He got his hair cut, but also he had gotten a shave and a head and neck message which included warm towels. He is disappointed that he most likely won’t need another haircut before leaving Japan. It is with mixed emotions that we go to sleep tonight. Our 88 Pilgrimage route is coming to an end. The last temple of the route is tomorrow and then it will take us a couple of days to walk back to temple 1 where we started. It is going to take us awhile to reflect on what we have experienced these last two months.
Accommodation:Inn Tec Tec
Miles hiked 18