Day 29: Temple 43

Today was going to be a relatively easy day. We only had one temple to visit which we could reach within 40 minutes of leaving the minshuku. We also had to arrange an inn in the city of Ozu City to use as a home base for our trip out-and-back to Shussekiji (Bekkaku Temple 7). We needed somewhere to store our backpacks for the day and had hoped to find a place to stay two nights in a row.

I didn’t mention last night that woman running Minshuku Miyako would only agree to help make a reservation for one night. My Japanese and her English weren’t good enough to get a good explanation. The conversation boiled down to, “Ni nichi [two days],” “Ichi dake [one only,” “ni [two],” “ichi dake [one only].” It went back and forth like that for a while before I relented. I would also point to an inn and she would indicate “no, not that one,” and call a different inn. It was entertaining at least.

After several failed attempts (“Ippai!” [Defeated!]) she finally got a us a place at Tokiwa Inn (a Henro House lodging). It was a lucky break as I have a registered account with Henro House online. Henro House is a network of inns online that cater to pilgrims. You can register for a room up to a month in advance and see if space is available for making a reservation. Connor and I have stayed in two Henro Houses so far this trip. I was able to open the website to see they still had several spots open for Tuesday night as well as the reservation we now had for Monday. It would be a matter of asking if they could extend our stay upon our arrival.

We had left Meisekiji before 9:00 a.m. with a goal of making it to Ozu City by 3:00 p.m. After learning Connor had studied architecture in college, a fellow guest at Guest House Okinohama several days ago recommended he visit Garyu Sanso as well as nearby Ohanaha Street. Garyu Sanso was intended as a private retirement home of a wealthy merchant with an eye toward classic Japanese architecture design – a home with a large private garden and separate tea house overlooking the Hiji River. Ohanaha Street and surrounding area, on the other, has been used as the backdrop for a number of Japanese period dramas and other television/movie projects, including 1991’s “Tokyo Love Story.”

I needn’t have worried about getting the second night at Tokiwa Inn. One of the first questions the clerk asked as we were checking in was, “Do you plan to hike to Shussekiji (Bekkaku Temple 7) tomorrow? Will you be needing a place to stay tomorrow night too?” It was as easy as saying, “yes” and “yes” and agreeing to his question if we wanted to stay at Tokiwa Inn again tomorrow. Though it looks like we’ll be getting curry both nights.