Ruth: I knew in advance that most of the 350 meter climb up to Temple 65 occurred in the last few steep kilometres. I taped my knees, loaded up on more sugary treats than normal, and started the day full of confidence. After stopping at a lovely henro hut for second breakfast with Gord, I headed for the temple. Although the route was marked and ...
Gordon: We are spending two nights at a business ryokan near Temple 62. This has permitted us to enjoy an unladen day doing a return trip to Temple 60. Visiting this temple involves a henro-korogashi (pilgrim falls down) climb to 750 metres. Like many mountain temples, number 60 is set in a mature cedar forest. It also has a large area planted with rhododendrons, which ...
Ruth: There are relatively few foreigners on the Shikoku pilgrimage route, so we tend to spend our time with the Japanese that we meet. As the lovely temples begin to blur together, what stands out more for me each day are the wonderful interactions we have with locals. When we were planning our trip to Japan I told Gord that I definitely would not be ...
Ruth: There are moments everyday when I am struck by just how different Japan is from any other country I have visited. It goes beyond their resistance to global trends like chairs and beds, and the interesting coexistence of modernity and ancient traditions. Take this cute little creature, the tanuki. Do not be fooled by the monks garb and big innocent eyes, as I was. ...
Ruth: There is usually at least one point in every trip where I have to thank my Pocket Earth app for finding me yet another magical alternate route to cycle. This morning, after climbing up to a pass at 720 meters I needed to make a descent that would rejoin the walking route in the valley below. The link was made on this lovely steep ...
Gordon: Near the end of a long but beautiful walk / ride we reached Temple 44 yesterday. This means that we have now visited half of the 88 Temples on the pilgrimage. We also passed the halfway mark in the length of our visit to Japan a couple of days ago. Given that we have now covered 745 of the 1200 kms of the pilgrimage ...
Ruth: It’s not that I don’t like ryokans (traditional Japanese inns), but we have stayed in so many lately that I have been wanting a bit of a change. In addition, we keep passing perfect camping spots. Camping in Japan is quite a treat if you manage to find the right spot. Sometimes they are not at the right distance and you just have to ...
Ruth: I can feel that we are getting closer to the edge of the Kochi Prefecture, and with that the end of the period of asceticism and the beginning of enlightenment. Our routes for the past two days have been varied and absolutely beautiful. We have moved from the rocky headlands and beaches of the southwest tip of Shikoku into the mountains again on a ...
Gordon: The Japanese language has incorporated a surprising number of English words. They are generally unrecognizable, however, because Japanese pronunciation splits the consonant combinations with a vowel, adds a vowel at the end, replaces consonants that are difficult to pronounce, makes other random changes, and of course modifies the pronunciation. For example, “credit card” becomes “kurejittu kaado”. Words adopted from foreign languages are usually written ...
Gordon: We are currently staying near Temple 38, at the far southwestern point of Shikoku. It is a wild and beautiful area, with substantial distances between temples. The walk from Temple 37 to Temple 38 is 82 kms, the longest stage on the 88 Temple pilgrimage. There are some magnificent beaches in this region, many popular with surfers. A couple of nights ago we stayed ...