Day 17: Temples 34, 35, and 36

Connor had an uncomfortable night. Something he ate disagreed with him and we couldn’t figure out what it could have been. We both have been eating essentially the same types of things from the same places since we started over two weeks ago and I had a great night’s rest. He now gets to walk over 16 miles and visit 3 temples.

Our first stop would have to be Family Mart to see what they carried in the way of something to settle the stomach. Fortunately, they had a small medicine section at the end of one of the aisle. We found something which looked comparable to Pepto-Bismol, waved over a young man in the magazine aisle looking at some manga, and asked if this might be something good for a bad stomach. He read the back of the box and nodded that it should work. After buying a box, Connor opened it, swallowed one of the pills, and said it tasted horrific. We both agreed that probably meant it works.

Note: Breakfast at SP Harano was buffet-style with a Japanese and a Western section. Scrambled eggs, sausage links, fruit, coffee, and (fishy-tasting) hash browns (I think they were hash brown?) for me …. and a bowl of miso soup.

(The more I travel internationally, the more I think the ability of a person to travel comfortably depends upon how broadly they can apply the statements, “Yeah, I could eat that,” “Yeah, I could sleep here,” and “Yeah, I could use that as a toilet.”)

We departed Tanemaji a little after 9:00 a.m. The stop at Family Mart hadn’t put us behind our schedule for the day, but I had a goal of completing or being nearly complete with Temple 35 by noon as we were going to have a long walk to Temple 36 occupying our afternoon.

We reached Temple 35 (Kiyotakiji – “Clean Waterfall Temple”) just after 11:30 a.m. We were well within our timetable’s safety margin to reach Temple 36 before 5:00 p.m.

——————————
It is known that Kukai trained at Kiyotakiji during his lifetime. It is said that after completing a seven day prayer for a good harvest, he struck his staff upon the prayer protium, and spring water burst out creating a pond as reflective as a mirror.
—————————-

Our phone maps apps were telling us that, if we were to continue walking without a break, we would reach Temple 36 around 3:00 p.m. We considered that enough of a safety margin that we could stop at a positively reviewed udon noodle shop nearby Temple 35. Again, it was a matter of walking in, pointing to a picture on the menu on the wall, and trying to parse the essential meaning of what the staff was saying to you to complete the transaction.

Our estimated arrival to Temple 36 had shifted to 4:00 p.m. by the time we were leaving and we still have two-and-a-half hours of walking to get there. Connor’s stomach was a bit better, but he had been a quieter and less patient throughout the morning. I’ve traveled while feeling ill before and it’s no fun. I also didn’t have any 16 mile walking excursions added to my maladies.

As we approached within two hours of Temple 36, we discovered our navigation guides recommended going through the 830 meter Tsukajizaka Tunnel. Connor seems to dislike the automobile tunnels and our guidebook recommended taking the Shoryuji Trail over the mountain instead. We figured taking the trail would add some time, but there was only one way to find out how much. In the end, the trail added about 25 minutes to our estimated arrival time, so it wasn’t particularly concerning. We did, however, see a number of signs warning hikers to be watchful for mamusha, an Asian pit viper similar to rattlesnakes in the Americas, but the signs noted the active period for the snakes started in April and ran through October. We were likely safe … for now.

With our quick descent down the trail, we reached Shoryuji (Temple 36 – “Green Dragon Temple”) a bit after 4:00 p.m. After the rituals and getting our items stamped, we asked temple office monk if we could call our lodging to let them know we would be arriving in an hour.

We arrived at the guest house at the agreed upon time to be greeted by the owners. The reason they needed to know what time we would arrive is that their own house is some distance away, the wife speaks very good English while her husband knows very little, but the husband would be the one remaining on the premises in a trailer next to the house we would be staying in. So the wife was here to explain everything and get our information and payment, but would be heading back to their home for the evening while the husband stayed behind in the trailer. We had the whole house to ourselves. Score!