Weather: Sunny with light showers in the afternoon
Started with train ride to Kubokawa Station and a 5 minute walk to Temple 37 (Iwamotoji). Said goodbye to Kyoko-san as she continued on foot and I took the train to Nakamura Station.
Ceiling from Temple 37 (Iwamotoji)
From Nakamura Station I took a bus down to Ashizuri and to Temple 38 (Kongofukuji). The garden at Kongofukuji was really peaceful.
Temple 38 (Kongofukuji) and gardens
There is also a statue of John Manjiro near the temple. In 1841, John Manjiro and 4 friends left Tosa-Shimizu City and got caught in a storm on their fishing vessel and landed on an inhabited island. They were rescued by an American whaling ship and brought to Hawaii. John learnt English and later returned to Japan in 1851, and later became an interpreter and translator for the government when Commodore Perry arrived in Yokohama to force open Japan to the rest of the world.
Statue of John Manjiro
Didn’t do much walking today, but am tired from all the travelling.
Started the day with a bus ride to the bottom of Temple 35 (Kiyotakiji). And then another bus to a stop near Temple 36 (Shoryuji).
Temple 35(Kiyotakiji)
It was about noon when I got to the start of Shoryuji, so I decided to stop in a restaurant where one barbecues one’s own (mostly) seafood lunch. The only seafood that wasn’t fresh were the frozen prawns.
Mostly seafood barbecue
I met up with Kiyoko-san again today! It was weird, I was thinking about her earlier in the day and was wondering how she was getting on with her Henro and then she appeared just as I was leaving Shoryuji. I told her where I was staying tonight and she managed to get a room at the same cute business hotel.
Temple 36 (Shoryuji).The Main Temple and the Daishi Temple are at the top of the stairs.
It was nice to catch up with her and hear about her travels over dinner at a ramen place. (This area is famous for their Nabeyaki Ramen). She will be finishing her Henro at Temple 65 (that is where she started from), but tomorrow we will set off together. She has already done Temple 37 (Iwamotoji) today, so she will continue on by foot to Temple 38 (Kongofukuji) while I go to Temple 37.
The owner of the guest house I stayed at was really helpful. She suggested an itinerary for Sophie (another German woman) and offered to pick her up at a grocery store close to the last temple Sophie would be going to today and bring her back to the guesthouse as well as bring her back to the grocery store the next day.
The owner also offered to have my rucksack brought to the place I’m staying tonight. I agreed and was extremely grateful for her help.
Without my rucksack I was able to walk further than expected. I am staying at a place in front of Temple 33 (Sekkeiji) but I walked to Temple 34 (Tanemaji) today and came back. I’m taking public transport tomorrow morning to the bottom of the mountain of Temple 35 (Kiyotakiji).
Temple 32 (Zenjibuji) also on top of a hill/mountain had a view of the ocean and the farming area. There are a lot of solar farms(?) in Shikoku – areas of land where the only thing on it are solar panels.
Not sure what this is, but it was at Temple 32 (Zenjibuji)… so I had Usagi-chan pose with it.Part of the view from Temple 32 (Zenjibuji)
There are also a lot of Tsunami evacuation stations especially along the coast of Kochi. Many of there were put up after the earthquake and tsunami of 2011.
One of many tsunami evacuation stations along the coast.
Between Temple 32 and 33 there is a small ferry which is free to ride and was a nice change to walking on hard paved roads.
Small ferry crossing
Once on the other side there was a Sake brewery…so I stopped in to have a free sampling of their tipple
Sake brewery The different sake they had samples of… I tried them all 🙂
After that I went to Temple 33 (Sekkeiji) but forgot to take a picture… I blame the sake.
But I did manage to take a photo of Temple 34 (Tanemaji)…one of the few temples not on a hill/mountain
Temple 34 (Tanemaji). The farmers are preparing the beds for ginger. There are more than the one farmer in this picture, but you have to look very hard – you also have to look carefully for the Temple.
Started the day with Temple 31(Chikurinji). The Henro route goes through The Kochi Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden, so as a pilgrim one can see the gardens for free.
Henro path that goes through Makino Botanical Garden
After visiting Chikurinji I walked to the Kochi Art Museum. They have a collection of Marc Chagall’s lithographs.
I wanted to go to CUL-PORT (Yokohama Memorial Manga Museum) but apparently the are closed for renovations until April of this year. So instead, I went to the sight of Sakamoto Ryoma’s birthplace… it was a stone memorial between two office buildings.
Birthplace of Sakamoto Ryoma…I’m pretty sure there once was a house there and Ryoma wasn’t born on the sidewalk between office buildings. 😉Kochi Castle
After that a short visit to Kochi Castle and then dinner of tataki (lightly roasted bonito). Tataki is the specialty of Kochi.
Went to Temple 28 (Dainichiji) first thing in the morning, and bumped into the German woman from the day before. I didn’t see her again for the rest of the day. It might be because she used Google maps instead of the henro signs posted on the road along the way.
Bell at Temple 28 (Dainichiji)Main Temple at Dainichiji
I found that following the henro signs sometimes adds an extra half hour or more to the walk. So from Temple 29 (Kokubunji) to Temple 30 (Zenrakuji) I followed the signs for a bit then took a shorter route, which was also marked but not as well.
Temple 29 (Kokubunji)Usagi-chan enjoying the Sakura (cherry tree) at KokubunjiTemple 30 (Zenrakuji) there is a temple and a shrineKannon outside of Temple 30
From Temple 30 I walked to Tosa-Ikku Station. I then took the train to Kochi, where I will be spending the next two nights in order to do some sightseeing.
View down the main Boulevard from Kochi Station
Not sure why so many of the temples are on a hill/ mountain? Luckily, today only one was slightly higher (only 2 flights of stairs and NO hairpin bends with ridiculous inclines!)
KotsuKotsuLife 