Cycling the Shikoku no Michi 12

Day Twelve: Kochi, Temples 29 – 34

Weather: Rainy, then clearing to mixed sun and cloud. Warm.

I enjoyed a good breakfast at the hotel: I think it cost only ¥300, and the service was great. A nice place.


Kokobunji (Kochi), temple 29. Each of the four provinces in Shikoku have a 'provincial' temple: these are all called Kokobunji. Temples 15 in Tokushima, 59 in Imabari, and 80 in Takamatsu are the other Kokobunjis.


















Temple 30, Zenrakuji.

I went to temples 29 and 30, both in Kochi, on schedule, but, reflecting, decided that today was a good day to break for a few hours to check my email at KIA, Kochi’s expatriate organization. Most cities in Japan have expatriate offices where one can find information and, often, use the internet. I had been out of touch for almost two weeks at this point and was worried that my friends might be concerned about my whereabouts. KIA has an office just down the street from the Kochi Castle, downtown.

I had about 30 emails to answer, so I spent about two and a half hours doing that. Then I found a local bike shop and purchased some brake pads for my bike. Mine were uncomfortably close to the metal, and no longer very effective. Cyclists should bring an extra set on this ride, as they will almost certainly have to change theirs…

Now, having lost a lot of momentum, and feeling that I needed to ‘catch up’, I tried to motor along. My goal for the day was to get to 36, and prepare for the long ride down the peninsula the next day. I got lost on the way to 32, however…and my stopping place for the night turned out to be temple 34. All day I felt distracted, and, I think, a bit tired. The bus henro I met were not so friendly.



Temple 30 was a stately, grand temple facing the rice fields. Very beautiful grounds.





Temple 31, Chikorinji, was odd – it had no gate. But it did have this extraordinary approach path. I swear it must be half a kilometer long.







Temple 32 was occupied by a seeming army of obaachan – grandmums – cleaning it. It also boasted a statue of maneki neko, the cat of good fortune, and a sign about a lucky cat who lived here. There were living cats all over the place.














There were also some extraordinary rock formations, like the ones behind this statue. Very different; quite beautiful.



A view of Urado Wan Bay in Kochi, between temples 32 and 33.

The 7.5 km. route from temple 32 to 33 requires a ferry crossing of Urado Wan Bay. It's free and runs often, perhaps every half hour or so. The crossing takes maybe ten or twelve minutes.

Sekeiji, temple 33.








Temple 34, Tanimaji.



Temple 34 was very friendly, run by a young couple with two cute kids. While he was signing my nokyocho, the priest asked me where I was going to stay, and I replied that I would find a local hotel or camp (I had a tent). He proposed I stay at the temple, where they maintain a room for walking henro, which was empty today. This is called shukubo, and in this case was free accommodation, offered as o-settai to the pilgrim. I accepted his kind offer; and when I opened the door, found a very nice tatami room.

Dinner was a bit trickier; when I asked if there were any combini around (all one could see was farmhouses and rice) he pointed out the Laundromat across the street, with its’ attendant row of vending machines. I thanked him, but thought…I might head down the road later to see what I could find. Immediately after settling in, I jumped back on my bike, and after a meandering 4 km ride, found a supermarket, where I bought some bento for dinner.

Back at the ranch, I used the shower and, after dinner, found twenty minutes in the fading light to replace one set of pads. The old ones were worn well past their limits. Tomorrow would be another long ride.

Cycling the Shikoku no Michi 11

Day Eleven: Inside Cape Muroto, Temples 24 – 28

Weather: mixed sun and rain.

Breakfast is only served from seven at this hotel, so a late start. It was nice, though; traditional Japanese, tofu, fish, rice, tea. I grabbed a coffee afterwards at a vending machine, and set out at 7:30.




Just down the road, at the giant statue of Kobo Daishi, Mikurado. Kukai’s cave. This is where he came, legend says, to find his life’s work and gain his powers. He spent some time, perhaps three years, in one of the three caves, meditating, and presumably looking over the line into the otherworld. This cape, along with Ashizuri to the west, is the place where home (Japan) ends and the unknown begins. I can imagine that the typhoons could be impressive along here.


And it is the place where he took his name - Kukai, according to this author, means ‘Land and sea’.


I stopped into the caves and prayed at the shrines. While I was there I made some recordings. Here and here are recordings of these two caves in the bottom of the little cove. Both were dripping with water.




Walking up a path, I encountered another, smaller cave, enshrined, which was more or less dry…it seemed perhaps a much more comfortable place to stay!


There was a woman with a couple of cats in a small building at the entrance to the parking lot area. I went over to see what she was doing, and it turned out she was a priest and this was a bangai temple! She found a blank page on my nokyocho and signed it for me, and insisted on giving me an apple.







I climbed another path starting nearby towards temple 24, Hotsumisakiji. The hill is higher than it looks, about 150 metres, and it took some time for me to get up there. It was hot, with an annoying cloud of mosquitos hanging around. I stopped at the viewpoint to take a rest and look at the ocean. This is what it sounded like.


Temple 24, Hotsumikaji




Shinshoji. A 'downtown' temple - very pretty!

Inside the mon near the top of the stairs
















Temple 25, Shinshoji, is only a 6.5 km. ride around the tip of the peninsula, and temple 26, Kongoshoji, is on a hilltop just under 4 kilometres further northwest.

Looking southwest



It’s a bit of a climb as well, and as I was grinding my way up through the rice fields, I heard an annoying rumble behind me, and was passed by….a large, red, expensive looking sports car. Some of the access roads to the temples are not in great shape, although this one is, and I was surprised to see someone in such a car in such a place…


I saw the driver, who appeared to be in his early twenties, uneasy, with his obaachan (grandmum) at the temple. The car was a Lamborghini Countach, one of a handful, perhaps, in Japan. I immediately nicknamed him Lamborghini Guy, and I was to bump into them at different temples repeatedly over the next two days. Each time they were sporting new henro paraphernalia. I grew kind of fond of them, though we never spoke, except to smile and say hello.

In the lower parking lot, in a converted freight trailer-box, was a taciturn man selling things and a cat, which allowed me to pet it, but seemed somewhat standoffish.











A way cool bikepath



Temple 27, Konomineji is a thoroughly enjoyable 27.5 kilometre ride along the seashore, much of it on a combination bikepath/walkway. The temple itself is a stiff climb, however, up onto the mountain.








Temple 28, Dainichiji, is in Kochi, 37.5 kilometres further west. It felt like a long haul; I arrived at the temple at 5:10, but the priest signed my book anyway. Lucky again!

I found a room in a small business hotel called Nankoku. The staff there were very kind and helpful. My room had a view south across the city, with a tram running past.