Today started with torrential rain and ended with blue skies.
The owner of the guest house I stayed at gave me a lift to Aratano Station, which was really nice of her as it was coming down like cats and dogs. Took the train to Hiwasa Station and Temple 23 (Yakuoji) was a 5 minute walk away.
As the next temple is 75.8km away and one has to walk in long tunnels on the highway, I opted to take the train and bus instead.
On the way to Temple 24 there is a giant statue of Kobo Daishi looking out to sea. His Buddhist name Kukai comes from him going to Cape Muroto to do ascetic trading in a cave. From the cave he saw the sky (ku) and the sea (kai), and thus came up with his name. The cave is also on the way to temple 24 and there is historical evidence that he did spend time there when he was 19.
I spent most of the day travelling in one mode of transport or another, it was nice to finally be able to walk the 6k from Temple 24 (Hotsumisakiji) to the minshuku (Inn) I am staying at tonight.
Temple 23 is the last Temple in Tokushima and Temple 24 is the first Temple in Kochi. The Tokushima part of the Henro is called the hosshin (the awakening) temples. The temples in Kochi are known as shugyo (ascetic training). It is said that it is called shugyo because of the long stretches between temples.
KotsuKotsuLife 
Beautiful structures…being in that cave must have been amazing.
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It was great to be in a place that Kukai actually visited. The cave was also nice as that day was one of the sunny times on this travel so it was also nice to get out of the sun into a cool damp place.
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