Day 23: Walking Day

Since we were planning on another short day as part of our recovery project 2023, as soon we had completed breakfast Connor decided he needed a little more shut eye before setting out. He’d been having difficulty sleeping and complained of waking 4 or 5 times a night. I welcomed him to adulthood. It was projected to rain all day but would not begin in earnest for another hour, so I took the opportunity to backtrack a little to do a bit of sightseeing. There is an archway abutting the coast called Hakusan Domon (“White Mountain Cave”, my translation). It’s nice to look at and is easily accessible going down a set of stairs to the beach. Other than that, I’m not sure there’s much else to say about it. I’m satisfied I went down to look at it, but I’m unaware of any legends or lore associated with it to share with you.

The drops were beginning to fall as I ascended back up to the town which runs along the southern edge of the cape. It was only 7:30 by the time I got back to the minshuku and, with the short distance we needed to cover today, we didn’t need to leave until check-out time. Connor was sound asleep, so I crawled back into my own bed to get some further rest.

We left Minshuku Kan a little after 9:00 and it was raining. It was the kind of rain that would keep you indoors all day, but not so bad as to reshuffle your schedule or delay any chores requiring driving. I put on my backpacker’s poncho and Connor his rain jacket and pack cover. It was only a minute or two of walking before I decided, if it’s going to be raining like this all day, I should put on my rain pants as well. Otherwise I would be drenched from the waist down by noon. Unfortunately, Connor forgot his rain pants and left them back in the States. He assured me he has a pair, but must have forgetten to re-pack them after using them last. By noon, he was drenched from the waist down.

[Side note: I’m certain my nephew prepared for this trip. He keeps bringing up points about Japanese culture and history (On my recommendation, he read “Shogun” over this past week. He thought it gave into stereotypes and was dated, but that the story was very engaging.) and asks me direct questions about what Japanese language I’ve taught him along the way. He knows the names of the towns and the names of the temples and often refers to them when we discuss future routes. (I, however, think in terms of temple numbers and the temple locations. I don’t know the town names, but if you ask me about Temple 24, I know exactly where it is on the map and the approximate distances between it and the previous and next temples.) In short, I sometimes suspect my nephew focused more for the cultural and historical aspects of visiting Japan and less on the logistical aspects of walking a 50-plus day pilgrimage.]

After noon, we found a Lawson’s to get something for lunch. As we stood outside with our purchases deciding where to eat them, a group of five Taiwanese women pilgrims whom we had encountered at Temple 38 passed and excitedly greeted us. Or excitedly greeted Connor. One of them just had to come over and take a selfie with him and dance her way laughing back to her friends.

We sat and ate our lunch outside of Sunny Mart as we tried to determine what our next few days would look like. We needed to get to the Montbell in Shimanto. It was obvious Connor needed to pick up a pair of rain pants and his only pair of hiking pants had developed a hole that could only get worse. (I also only brought one pair of pants.) While the shoes I purchased at Montbell in Kochi were perfect in width, they were a bit too long and I think were partially responsible for the blisters I’m still recovering from. Today I tried wearing a third pair of socks to see if that wouldn’t stop the shoes from their minute shiftings while still giving my toes room to breath. I think another pair of light-weight hiking socks would work (Inner toed liner sock – middle light-weight hiking sock – outer mid-weight hiking sock). We were also short on “Body Glide” which is much appreciated by the inner thighs before a long day of hiking.

Our plan tomorrow is to hike the 30 kilometers to Hirata Station, about 2 kilometers short of Enkoji (Temple 39), take the 5:10 train back to Shimanto, stay overnight, visit Montbell at their 8:00 a.m. opening, and catch the 10:07 a.m. train back to Hirata Station. We’ll then make up the extra distance the next day as it was only going to be a 10 km day anyway. We’ll be back on the original schedule (minus 1 day) then.

We checked in to the Guest House at 3:00 p.m., bathed, arranged future lodging, had dinner, and did some laundry. No dinner pictures from Guest House Okinohama tonight.