Day 8: Temples 22 and 23

After preparing for the day, we only a 0.6 mile walk to Byodoji (Temple 22 – “Temple of Equality”). It’s a place where people pray to prevent misfortune and the main deity, Yakushi Nyorai, can be worshiped from either the front or rear of the main temple. What interested me most was the signature of Prof. Frederick Starr framed in the hondo. Frederick Starr was a Professor of Oriental Studies at the University of Chicago in the first quarter of the Twentieth Century. He is the first Westerner to walk the Shikoku pilgrimage, partially in the teens and fully in 1926, and photos exist of them commemorating the event.

It was going to be a relatively easy day compared to all the previous days so far. We had a manageable distance, mostly paved roads, only two temples to visit, no large climbs, and a potential visit to an onsen (traditional Japanese bathhouse) at the end of the day. After Byodoji, we headed south toward the Pacific Ocean. It was just after 8:30 a.m.

We hit the coast about 11:30 and had approximately 3 more hours of walking left. We stopped at another rest hut where two Japanese men where finishing their own lunches. We chatted briefly. Mostly the same types of polite questions we’d encountered before, “where are you from?”, “Is this your first time to Japan?”, “Do you know of Ohtani Shohei?” (A Japanese baseball player who plays for the Los Angeles Angels.) They departed, we continued our lunch, another group of Japanese people arrived, and the same questions were repeated.

Some walking along the coast, more walking along Route 25, another path following the coast, and, finally, at Hiwasa. Our lodging, Ichi the Hostel, wasn’t checking guests in until 3:00 p.m., so, instead of being early, we stopped off at a local diner in search of some ice cream to eat up some time. No luck. Too early in the season for them to be carrying ice cream, so we settled for lemon squash and calpis soda. After our short break, we were heading to our lodge when an elderly woman popped out of local tourist welcome center and waved us in. She served us coffee and cookies and talked very pleasantly, if very haltingly.

We finally checked into our room and headed out, onsen towel in hand, to Yakuoji (Temple 23 – “Medicine King Temple”). It was another large temple complex built on the side of a large hill and we both really enjoyed it. Connor again got carried away taking pictures, but it was a temple worth taking pictures of.

After getting our stamps, we headed over to the local onsen. It was my second time to an onsen in Japan, so it was a bit less awkward this time. I still remember my first onsen experience in Nikki, Japan wherein I stepped into the tub room and a dozen or so naked Japanese men stopped their conversations to appraise the naked foreigner in their midst.

To end the evening, we were turned away from two fully-booked restaurants until finding a hole-in-the-wall Japanese restaurants to get some tempura and oyakodon. Back to the hostel to do some laundry and off to bed.