April 10
We had a peaceful night in our little efficiency apartment and we were ready to be be on the move by 6:30. There are five temples fairly close together so our goal is to visit them all. The sky was the bluest that it has been for awhile. As we started down the street a man came running up behind us and handed us a bottle of tea to drink. Nice way to start the morning. We had hoped to stop at a road side rest for breakfast but it wasn’t open for another hour so we thought we would go ahead and check out Temple 71. One of the oldest temples on Shikoku as well as one of the more sacred religious sites in Japan. As with a lot of temples that sit on a mountain there are a lot of steps to reach the main grounds.
We met Dennis and Charlotte from Hong Kong. We exchanged some gifts and shared some of our experiences. They are going to all the temples in a month by using public transportation.
We are awestruck by the beautiful flower arrangements.
It is always a treat when you get to where the temple is located and see how it has a view over the town below.
We meet a couple from Italy who are riding the pilgrimage route on a tandem bike. We talk bike packing for awhile.
Less than two miles away is Temple 72. We walk up a hill to enter the gate.
There is also a floral display surrounding the water basin.
The next temple is a small temple called Koyamaji. We enter the gate and quickly notice all of the rabbit statues,
We stare at the flower arrangement which are perfect.
The last temple of the day and perhaps the most important and largest one on the Pilgrim route is Zentusji (75) This temple is the birthplace of Kobo Daishi. We have plenty of time to look at the variety of things that are located here.
And almost to be expected beautiful flower arrangements.
We meet Tim from Australia. He is doing the route counter clockwise and met our friend Renee several days ago. She told him about us as he is also trying to camp when he can. We shared some of the camp sites that we used.
A 1000 year old camphor tree was fenced off. It is a respected tree.
One of the halls.
On the way to our hotel, we passed a large grocery store. We went in to check it out and quickly had a grocery crate that was overflowing. I guess we have hiker hunger. We had planned to go out to eat tonight, but looks like we will be eating in our room. Our hotel is older but very adequate. Plus it was close to the last temple. Today has all worked out.
Accommodation. Zentsuji Grand Hotel
Miles hiked 12