Ruth: I’m feeling very grateful tonight. We found a  shelter behind a Shinto shrine between Temples 34 and 35. It has a roof, two walls and couches. We asked permission to stay the night and then a local man returned with drinks and grapes for us.... Read More

Ruth: On this pilgrimage each of the four prefectures that we pass through offers a different stage in spiritual development. Tokushima Prefecture is the place of spiritual awakening.  Kōchi Prefecture is the place of ascetic training,  Ehime Prefecture is the place of enlightenment, and Kagawa... Read More

Ruth: Except for our brief excursions up to the mountain temples, we spend much of our time here in Japan within the tsunami inundation zones. At our guest house two nights ago our host explained in Japanese and charades what to do if the alarm... Read More

Gordon:  Temple 27 is a henro-korogashi temple located near the top of a mountain and accessed by a spur road 3.2 kms in length.  Ruth had been advised that the access road was too steep to cycle, so we both left our baggage at our... Read More

Gordon:  I recently realized that we have provided no background information regarding the Shikoku pilgrimage.  It is a circuit of the island of Shikoku (the smallest of the four major Japanese islands) with visits to 88 Buddhist temples.  These temples are connected with Kūkai, also... Read More

The black dots in the water are surfers.  Gordon:  This is our first trip in Japan and we didn’t do sufficient reading in advance, so we truly don’t know much about the country.  To provide some background information we are taking a course in Japanese... Read More