Day 16: Temples 31, 32, and 33

We started with a nutritious breakfast from 7-Eleven. We had headed for McDonald’s, but fortune saved us a block short of the destination. Japan is not a big breakfast country. The only Starbucks we found in Kochi opens at 8:00 a.m. and many of the coffee shops listed on Google didn’t open until 11:00 a.m. It was still about 38 degrees Fahrenheit, so if we were going to eat from a convenience store, it needed to include indoor seating.

We crossed the bridge out of central Kochi heading southeast toward Temple 31 (Chikurinji – “Bamboo Forest Temple”) which we reached in about 45 minutes. The main temple houses a number of important sculptures, but the temples are often so dark when not directly in use that it’s difficult to take any decent photos inside. I particularly liked the giant five-story pagoda that sat on a raised section overlooking the temple complex.

As we were completing our duties around the temple, we ran into the elderly gentleman from yesterday. It’s not unusual to run into the same people again and again as walking henro, We talked ever so briefly and then we were off to the next temple and he was off to worship.

As we reached street level below the small mountain holding Temple 30, we noticed a series of signs addressed to walking pilgrims in Japanese and translated into English. The official pilgrim trail descending from Chikurinji passes right by the Godaisan Elementary School and they had set up a station with notes written by the children addressed to passing pilgrims who they often see from the central playground. The children’s notes (with English translations below) greeted the pilgrims, told them about the things the children liked to do and the foods they liked to eat, and asked if the pilgrim could write a response in the notepad left on the table below.

It took us about an hour and a half to reach the next temple. As there may be several pilgrims traveling the same way at the same time, you end up getting loose groupings of three to five pilgrims all walking separately within a couple hundred yards of each other. Connor broke off to use a nearby WC while I continued along to the next temple with another coincidental companion pligrim.

I arrived at Temple 32 (Zenjibuji – “Temple of Ch’an Master’s Peak”) well before Connor, which surprised me. By himself, he would have been miles ahead of me so catching up after a restroom break should not have been an issue. I wasn’t worried as he’s an independent adult and has been working hard to learn how to use what Japanese he’s learned so far and how to navigate the country since we’ve been here. He finally showed as I was finishing at the first hall. He had tried to take a path through a large cemetery at the foot of the mountain which ended up being much more labyrinthine than he had anticipated. No Minotaurs were injured in his eventual escape.

We descended just after noon to get some lunch before trying to catch the ferry crossing Urado Bay in order to proceed to the Temple 33. Connor found a cluster of restaurants 20 minutes away from the ferry port so we could dine but not feel rushed afterward as long as we watched the time. We chose a restaurant called Kujira no Ibbuku based on the plastic demonstration foods outside the shop. The waitress didn’t know English and my Japanese isn’t good enough, so ordering was limited to pointing at pictures on a menu and ordering a beer. Beer is a universal constant. (Sorry, no pictures. We starting digging in as soon as the food showed up.)

We got the ferry port with 15 minutes to spare. The Urado Bay ferry has been used by pilgrims for centuries before the nearby Urado Bridge was built, so is still considered part of the walking pilgrims route.

Another 40 minutes of walking got us to Temple 33 (Sekkeiji – “Snowy Cliff Temple”). It was the home temple of Chosokabe Motochika (1539-1599) who waged a large campaign for control of the island of Shikoku which resulted in the burning of a large number of temples in the 88 Temple pilgrim route. It’s probably not surprising that his home temple was spared. His Mom would have been livid.

Connor had the presence of mind to ask if the temple had any walking staffs left behind by previous forgetful pilgrims that we might be able to take with us. The woman from the staff office jumped immediately out of the her chair and led us to a maintenance building which had about a dozen staffs leaning in a corner. We were fully staffed once again.

We arrived at our evening’s lodging, SP Haruno – part of a large sporting complex with a baseball field and other recreational facilities, a bit before 5:00 p.m. After our dinner of instant noodles from Lawsons, Connor washed our clothes while I asked the front desk to help make our lodging arrangements for Thursday and Friday. I’ve been getting over my Midwestern reticence of asking people for help and the feeling that I’m bothering them. For pilgrims especially, they are generally calling the same dozen or so inns daily to help make arrangements. Anyway, we now have places to sleep for the next three nights and one of those will be a temple stay (including meals) at Iwamotoji (Temple 37). I have a very strong suspicion I’ll be skipping beer with my dinner that evening.