Last Day

I didn't write about the last day, but by tradition henros go back to temple 1 to complete the circle around Shikouku, and so we had one last day to walk. We got up a bit later than usual, 6:10 am and left without breakfast because it was scheduled for 7:45, way too late for henros. Before we left Emi checked with the man at the front counter and he told us of the shortest route back to temple 1. Of course it had to be raining for our last day of walking, but it wasn't heavy, just a steady light rain. My gortex lined boots were quite useless by this time and by the time it stopped raining, some 2 hours later, my feet were already wet. Emi figured it was going to be a 30km walk, about 8-10 hours, but after 6 hours we began to get suspicious and asked the owner of the coffee shop that we were at. He informed us that we were way further away than I had originally calculated and we still had another 8 hours to go. In other words the guy at the hotel gave us bogus advice. Things were not going well. We had not eaten anything except 1 anpan (roll with sugar sweet beans inside) between the two of us and the lack of nutrition was effecting us in a negative way...like Tired! Walking 50km, or 31 miles, for 14 hours was not an option for me, consequently our revised plan for the 3rd time was to catch the train to a station close to Temple 1. We walked to the train station and finally had something real to eat for that day at noon. It was about a 15 minute ride through the mountains. I quickly entered a state of amazement and then shock to see how fast the train traveled in comparison to our walking. It is so true when they say that speed shortens distances. Our pace made 20 miles the maximum distance of travel, going to San Mateo from our home in San Francisco an all day event. After Temple 1 we caught the train to Tokushima and basically spent 2 days recovering in a hotel.

We are now in Kyoto. We are not henros anymore, although we did walk 12 miles today. We are just sightseers, and I don't do that role well but I will endure as if I was still on the henro michi.

October 25

October 25...we made it to temple 88!

The day started with an easy walk to temple 87, Nagaoji. It was 7 km on the flats from where we stayed, Ishiya Ryokan, but the trek to the last temple was a surprise, not in a good way. It was what nightmares are made of. The last day was not going to go away quietly. In fact it was going to turn into the worst climb of the entire trip. After temple #87 it was at first a gradual ascent on roads that just got steeper and narrower. The top portion of the last ascent wasn't even a trail, just a jumble of rocks that could have been called a cliff if it were any steeper. You literally had to scramble up on all fours. At one point I went ahead to explore the trail(?) to see if indeed it was a trail telling Emi not to move. “I'll be right back.” I scrambled up as fast as I could and damn if it wasn't the trail. I took off my pack and went back to get Emi. Putting on her pack we climbed the rocks, not looking right or left. The sight of the drop would not have helped. It was something that you had to do and not think of all that could go wrong. The last bit to the top was a makeshift scaffold to replace a washed out portion of the trail (probably from the typhoon that kept us off 4 years ago). With Kobodaishi watching over us we made it to the top. We had to go down for another 40 minutes or 1000 feet before we reached the last temple, Okuboji. What a waste to go up only to go down if you ask me, but who's asking me. When we finally got there, hallelujah!!!!, I was glad, sad, grateful that we had made it. There were many moments when I thought that we were not going to be able to complete the walk. So many times when our bodies cried out, “Stop already.” It was done by only thinking of one day at a time, the thought of the entire trip too daunting. With the idea of the trip being over I could have shed a tear or two but we didn't have the time. The day was not over. We still had to walk down for another 2 hours to our onsen lodgings. We didn't get there until 5:05pm. All in all it was about a 20 mile walk, mostly up and downs taking slightly less than 10 hours. One and a half musubi and half a anpan for lunch didn't help the situation. By the end of the day we were both very tired but surprisingly not as tired as some of our other days.

October 24

October 24...second to the last day

The weather report called for rain in the morning. We were lucky. It only rained during the night. It was about a 21 mile day, but the worst part was that two of the three temples were located on the side of the mountain. I guess that I should have been thankful that they weren't on the top. But the route up to the temples were steep. If you had seen us, we would have looked like two mountaineers attempting to scale Everest. We were that slow. And when you go up that means you have to go down. Unfortunately the trail (michi) down from the first temple was dirt, that easily turned into mud; it did rain during the night. Going down was slow,messy, and outright awful. Emi was worried that she'd fall and get herself muddy; she did and I was tired of getting bit by the mosquitoes (ka) that seemed very hungry. We were walking so far (21 miles), so long (9 hours), we were worried that we were not going to get to the last temple before 5pm, the time when they close, so for the last hour we had the afterburners on. We made it with time to spare.

This is our last night where we will be staying at a ryokan. I'm rather happy and sad about that situation. These minshikus and ryokans are old Japan. I wonder if they will survive these modern times. If they vanish it will be a lost and yet I for one appreciate the luxury and privacy of my own bathroom and eating at my own table, so what can i say? I would be one that would opted for a hotel over a ryokan; I would be one that would bury this old system. The ryokan that we are staying at is over a 100 years old and it reminds me of scenes from the old samurai movies that I use to watch. We have to walk on a veranda that winds around gardens to our room at the rear. Secluded in our tatami lined room I can just imagine the renegade samurais outside of our sliding glass shoji waiting to attack, if not samurais, at least ninjas, or geishas. If these walls could only talk.

October 23

October 23...mountain temples

We Left our minshiku at 6:45am....but before we leave it for good first some words about it and the other places that we have stayed. Our lodgings is always a crap shoot. We don't know anything about them except the name, phone number and location, so sometimes it's good and sometimes you wish you'd never left home. Last night's lodgings was worrisome at first. The inn keeper redirected us from the front steps to the side, showing us the furo and the sentaki (bath and clothes washer) located semi-outside on the ground level. Our room was on the second floor above a car port, and so we immediately started to think “Oh no, we have to walk down the stairs to the outside to a toilet in the middle of the night in a yukata. What have we got ourselves into?” But our first impression was wrong; our room had its own sink and toilet, such luxury. Further, he brought our meals to us. All this for the cheapest cost of 5000 yen each.

In the morning we walked to the 2 mountain temples that we had done while a typhoon was in the area. First, let me do a flashback. FLASHBACK...4 YEARS AGO. We were here and we or I should say that I thought we could do the walk before the typhoon's full impact arrived, l thought (or didn't) no problem, just a little rain. I was wrong 100 %. Not acquainted with typhoons (aka as hurricanes) I didn't understand the possible dangers. When we left our minshiku it was already raining heavily and it only got more intense. So even though the worst was some hours away, it was already BAD. The rain got stronger until it was pouring, oo-ame, and the only reason the wind wasn't blowing us around like kites in a gale was because we were being sheltered by the trees. We were so dumb about the henro michi then that we took a mountain route that doubled or tripled our walk, the last thing that we needed. The trail had turned into creeks, puddles, and streams. I still remember the last section as a nightmare. It was about a block long descent to the temple. Through the mist and rain, all I saw was a river of water flowing down the hill. I don't know how we made it but we did. As soon as we emerged from the woods the wind tore Emi''s umbrella apart. We called it a day right then and there, phoning for a taxi that took us to the next temple and then to our ryokan. We checked in about 11am, wet through and through. The next day we surveyed the damage. The river, the ocean had crested the levees and people had waterlogged belongings lining the street. One home was halfway in the river, and a car was in the middle of the river. The path along the river was washed out in sections and we had to climb over debris. Yes I must admit we were dumb gaijin (foreigners). We had a map but didn't know how to read the Japanese writings; we had no concept of the dangers of a typhoon, and we didn't know where we were going. Today was so different. We could read the map and knew where we were going. We made the correct turn this time and shaved 45 minutes off the walk. This time it was just raining a bit (Ame ga botchi botchi futte iru.), more of a bother than anything else, just another long walk with some steep climbs.

By the end of the day I was again ready to crash. Emi made reservations at a place called Kirara. It turned out to be a furo place, a seto (public baths). I actually liked it. It was not a working man's type pf place. The baths were huge, clean, and invigorating. It was a bummer that our actual sleeping site was a short block away from the baths forcing us to walk back and forth twice in our yukata and getas through the rain. But hey it's Japan. No one gave us a look. Here we are the norm.

October 21

October 21...getting close to the end

It's so hard to even remember what we did just for the present day, but I'll force my brain to work like I do to the rest of my body. We stayed at a business hotel last night where they have beds not futons on the floor. It was so nice. It is getting so hard to get up from off the floor. Sounds dumb ehh, but so true. Try it when you're our age.

Walked along the river to Motoyamaji where they had a national treasure temple, 800 years old. It looked just like another temple to me. Then it was 11 miles to Iyadaniji but before we got there we stopped for in shop made udon, very tasty. It was getting warm by then, and this temple had stairs like it was on sale and they had to buy a truckload or none at all. It was up and up, Stairway to Heaven eh Mel. Then it was two small temples up the side of the hill, and one more on the flats, Koyamaji. That one had a lot of new construction which made it hard to recognize...as if I recognize any of them in the first place. We met a man there who wanted to tag along with us. I was in no mood for tagalongs. I was staring to lose it, fatigue and lack of food does that to the human body. We lost him like we did the stray dog. Fortunately it wasn't too long before we reached our last temple, Zentsuji, which made it a total of 19.2 miles and 8 hours of walking. It is the biggest but not necessarily the warmest, too many people, too commercial for both of us. It is the birthplace of Kobodaishi and has a lot of frills; pagodas, monuments, etc temples, etc. We are spending the night here. The temple runs the inn and it is like a new hotel. You do have the common furo and toilets, but otherwise it's pretty comfortable, clean, and modern. Dinner was very nice, tasty but there just wasn't very much of it. There were a lot of other people there but they weren't walking henros, aruki henros, so they didn't need the calories like Emi and I. Tomorrow we're going to have to look for more food.

When Emi was talking to the check in guy, I could actually understand most of it. Scary. It's time to leave. I have seen the season go from late summer into fall. I have seen the persimmons, kaki, go from green to orange. I have seen the typical Japanese autumn flower, the red spider lilies,
come and go. The temperature has dropped permanently from 30 to 24. The akimatsuri have come and gone. Yet I'm still here. When will this ever stop? When will my suffering end? Do I have that much bad karma to walk off? Do I need to suffer more? Yes, yes, and Yes again. We all must walk our paths until we realize our sins, faults, and then find the truth. And what is the truth? Beer, beer, and another beer. No, no, no I kid. Seriously, the truth for me is just to say thank you for this life. To appreciate it. That's it. Life for the day. It's the hedonist way...I kid again. But life each day; live in the moment. To worry about the future is pointless. What will be, will be. My words are, “live life with open arms.” Which means accepting whatever that comes your way or as a henro would say just put one foot in front of the other no matter what and do it as a manner of fact not something you have to endure or tolerate. Simple philosophy for a simple guy. Anything else, I don't know. Leave it to the philosophers and sages. I will never know, arms.” r do I care to find the ultimate truth, I with little faith. What can I say?

October 19

October 19...indeed it was a hard day.

The total mileage was 20.6 and it took just over 9 hours. It was a mild day but not when you're walking with a pack and in the sun. But if I were laying in a hammock with mint juleps off to the side, it was perfect weather.

We had another walker with us for a time being. It was quite unexpected. We were standing around consulting our map when a dog some 30 feet away took one look at us and bolted our way as if we were his long lost owners. For a second I thought that he was hungry instead, but his tail was wagging. He was very friendly but henros cannot have pet dogs. We didn't know what to do except ignore him. The strategy didn't work. It was like ignoring mosquitoes. He followed us for some 30 minutes. Just before we reached the main road where we were concerned that the dog would get run over, we passed an apartment house where a lady was standing next to her car. She looked at us and “our dog.” She had the strangest look on her face, as if she was thinking, “Henros with a pet dog?” Our dog took some interest in her and trotted her way. It was our moment and we made a mad dash up the main road to get out of sight. Can you envision henros with packs trying to run up a grade? We did the best we could. I was afraid to look back for quite some time but when I finally did, we were alone. “Yokatta.” A fellow henro had the same experience but the dog didn't follow him as long. He said that there is a legend that dogs sometimes guide henros to the next temple, but he didn't think that this dog was like that. Emi and I didn't think so either.

October 18

October 18...Komatsu to Iyo-doi

It was a long walk, 21.4 miles, with 2 temples in the morning, Temple #64, Maegamiji and Temple #65, Sankakuji. We were walking for some 9 hours. Due to the situation we had to cram three days into two, which means more walking. Therefore after our baths and before dinner I more pass out then took a nap. I couldn't help it; I'm so tired. We were the only ones staying at the ryokan. They said that it was full last night and will be full tomorrow. It will be lonely for us they commented;we don't care. It's nice not to have to share the bathrooms and laundry facilities with other people.

We were probably more tired than usual because last night we weren't able to sleep at our normal 7 or 8. The matsuri (festival) was very loud, especially since they were parked right below our window. They were singing and screaming in time to the beat of the drums and bells. Occasionally there was another float in the area and that just intensified the volume as if a rival thing was going on. It seemed that a large percentage of the participants were teenagers drunk out of heir minds. I'm glad that I was safe in my quarters. When I was brushing my teeth it was so loud that I stopped to watch the action from the window with the obaasan of the inn. She commented to me,”Nigiyaka desu nee?” (Lively isn't it?). I agreed, but Emi said I should have said urusai (Noisy,) instead. Fortunately at around 9:3opm they all left and quiet once again took control.

Tomorrow promises to be another hard day with some time in the mountains.

October 17

October 17...a walk up the hill to Temple Kouonji.


This is the akimatsuri time here and they were celebrating the entire day, all 24 hours of it. That meant that they were pulling floats around the town all night. Pulling floats go along with pounding drums, singing, some fireworks, and eating and drinking. They also made calls for people on loudspeakers throughout the night. We are staying at the same place again and we get to hear them for a second night in a row.

Getting to the temple was a 8 hour walk straight up then down. We went with a fellow henro. Her name was Aiko. She was 38 years old and doing the pilgrimage, because she wasn't working, would soon be moving to Sendai and wanted to do the walk for her particular reason. It was different to be walking with another person besides Emi.

Tomorrow Emi promised me a long day, 19 miles. I think this is a promise that she'll keep.

October 16

October 16

Emi promised an easier day but it wasn't. She says that a lot and it's always a lie; it's always longer or harder than what she says. Her modus operandi is like a used car salesperson. Promise the dupe anything just to make the sale and I fall for it every time. We walked 17 miles to Komatsu, hitting Temples #59, and #62, on the way. Tomorrow is a hill temple, 6 hours up and down. We never did this because the trail was washed out by a typhoon when we were here before.

Subject 1: Test. I have taken many Japanese language classes and studied many Japanese language text but not enough to survive Japan by myself. For example I try to read the signs, the ones in hiragana, katagana, and kanji. I can actually read some of it. Katakana is the funniest and in some ways the hardest because even after you read it you don't know what you've read. I must explain that katakana is used to write foreign words, mostly english in a Japanese way. So if I succeed in reading a word like sa n do i chi, it doesn't necessarily tell me the word. That's an english word but do you know what that means? Hint, you find it on a menu. It means sandwich. One katakana word that stands out to me is a su pa ra ga su....asparagus. I would never have connected the two. The worst part is for me to understand what the people are saying. To me I hear “bla, bla, bla, sugoi, bla, bla, bla, da.” It's not really good enough to understand. This whole trip is a “practical” and I'd hate to see my grade.

Subject 2: Weight loss. Emi and I have lost some 4 plus kilos or some 8-10 pounds. Emi is so neurotic about weight loss that she carries it over to this trip. We barely get enough calories to survive and she's still worrying about gaining weight. As for me. I'd wish there was more to eat but there isn't, at least not what I want to eat, like Lay's Potato Chips, prime rib, real spaghetti, pistachios, etc, etc, etc

Subject 3: Sandals. Japan has this thing about slippers. There are slippers for going outside, for the kitchen, for the bathroom, for the hallways. At first I didn't get it. I'm from Hawaii, just take off your shoes and you're home free. Then I saw this 150 year old ryokan and then I got it. There, the floors were all dirt, the kitchen, the bathroom, the halls, except for the actual living areas, thus the reason for slippers.

Subject 4: One long field trip. Being a biology major in college, this trip has been like a real field trip for me. I'm just sorry that I couldn't collect specimens and have field books to research all that I have seen. My only compensation was to take pictures and I did. There were certain days in certain areas where the mushrooms
were as plentiful as hookers in the Tenderloin and I looked at all of them but never touched. I took pictures of dragon flies crimson red, others with eyes of green. One large toad made a gem of a photo. As for the flowers and other plants, I have taken pictures of them all. I'm so surprised that I recognize many of them, like Little Imp, Kerria Japonica, “Hot Lips” and etc.

One interesting discovery were the road kill snakes. At first I didn't believe what I was seeing, confusing Japan with Hawaii where snakes do not exist. I then recognized my mistake and later we confirmed it's existence by seeing a live snake. I didn't try to pick it up, a good thing because on another day we saw a sign with a picture of a snake that said “dangerous...mamushi”. I didn't want to jump to conclusions since my reading ability was limited. Did it mean it was dangerous for the snake or humans? As it turned out mamushi is a pit viper, dangerous for us. Who would have thunk, poisonous snakes in Japan.

October 15

October 15

This day is the second easy day because we split one long day into two easy ones. We did that when I was not feeling well, but everything is back to where it was; I'm just normal tired and sore. Tomorrow will be another long day, leaving only 11 days to the walk if all goes well.

Today we are staying at a Hotel Kosumo in outer Imabari that has public baths, a sento, that is used by the public and hotel guests. I don't think it's an idea that will ever catch on in the United States. The most interesting part was a section in this big bath that had a sign declaring it a pulse bath. Ready to try almost anything I walked over to the area and stepped into it and involuntarily let out a small yell. The area was electrified and it gave me a mild shock. An old man close by gave me a look like I was odd or something. And I may be odd but normal in my reaction. I can't see why anyone would want to torture themselves with that but I saw a guy immerse himself into those shocking waters. I just didn't know what he was feeling. He did grimace a bit but I didn't pay it any attention.

Fall is certainly in the air, but it will be a bit warm tomorrow, 27 degrees Cent. which is 80 degrees Fahrenheit. We're pretty used to that kind of weather by now, but don't really like it.
What can you do, but keep walking.

We may not have internet for a while, like after the trek is over, so until then or if we are lucky to find a connection...ja mata.