Day 41: Temple 64

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Breakfast at Business Ryokan Komatsu. I think I’ve given up on trying to eat a raw egg mixed in with my rice. The texture made me gag yesterday. Connor loves it however with soy sauce mixed in. Neither of us will touch the natto (fermented soy beans with the consistency of thick snot).

Since we had stopped by Temple 63 yesterday, we had only one temple on our schedule for today. It was a fairly straightforward 45 minute walk from our previous evening’s lodge.

Fish kites
Walking to Temple 64
Maegamiji (Temple 64 – “Front God Temple”)
Hondo – Maegamiji
Daishido – Maegamiji
Roof ornament – Maegamiji
Maegamiji
Window design – Maegamiji
Corroded figure of Fudo Myoo under a small waterfall with coins sticking to the stones. – Maegamiji
Maegamiji

After leaving the temple just before 10:00 a.m., we had a 23 kilometer walk to our next place. You’d think our feet would be used to it now, but it’s really the foot abuse that you get used to. I bought a pair of sandals in Matsuyama and have been switching between the walking shoes and the sandals every so often. The change seems to help. It’s just that walking on asphalt for hours on end is not a lot of fun. We are earning our stamps!

In the distance is Mt. Ishizuchi (1,921 meters). We had considered attempting to climb it, but rain in the forecast caused us to change our plans.
A fun pottery figure outside of a home.
Lunch at Ramen Shop Saijo Higashi
Looking inland from Route 11
Dinner at Goyomatsuso

I realize I’ve been talking about getting our scrolls and stamp books filled out at each temple, but haven’t shown you what they look like.

Connor’s nokyocho (stamp book) with stamps and calligraphy from each temple that we’ve visited so far. The books/stamps acted as a sort of passport from an earlier time when travel was more restricted. A monk would seek permission to perform the pilgrimage, receive permission to cross through territories within a certain amount of time and the stamp book became proof of travel.
My nokyojiku (scroll). It’s my understanding that there is a method (heat?) which moves the ink on the front mesh-like material to the paper scroll behind the current stamps. Twenty-four more stamps to get. That’s Kukai in the center.

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