Cycling the Shikoku no Michu 16

Day Sixteen: Bridge Shrines; Uwajima to Kuma Kogen

Weather: OMG it’s hot! And sunny. Soaked at 4:30.


Up and at ‘em at six am, around the corner at ten to seven for the regular combini obento and can o’ café.

Then a scenic ride through downtown Uwajima, famous for bullfights and huge mukade (it’s the heat and humidity). I saw the one above on Oshima Island in June. It was crossing the four lane highway. It knew I was there and was unperturbed. It waited until the traffic was clear then scuttled across the road. I kept hoping a car would come along but none did. This one was five inches long in early June; by September I expect it would have been somewhat larger.

Then I hied out route 56 to 57, and then alongside 31 on a smaller road. I prefer to use the smaller roads when I can, it’s more restful and I can spend more time looking at the landscape (as opposed to dodging giant dump trucks and semis).

Ryukoji

I found Temple 41, Ryukoji, ten or 11 kilometres along. Not easy to find at first, it seemed dominated by a jinja, and appeared to have no mon. I wonder what happened to it; perhaps the temple never had one. There was also an interesting clearcut just behind it on the hill. I didn’t see any bicycle henro, but did see a group of arukihenro. They seemed somewhat aloof.



Temple 42, Butsumukoji, is just 2.6 kilometres further along route 31 on my map.


















I came across this retired locomotive, C12231, somewhere along the way. I've forgotten just where; before Uchiko, I think.



Temple 43, Meisekiji, is 10.6 kilometres further along – on the other side of a mountain range. The Hanaga tunnel cuts through the pass.



Meisekiji had a couple of beautiful, weathered old Shinto shrines in the trees, moss covered rocks and gravestones all around, and this series of small shrines. They are about 3 to 4 feet to a side. I had no idea what they enshrined, or why there should be so many of them, most apparently enshrining similar objects, which look like metal discs, suspended. I suspected they were Shinto, but could they possibly be representations of Ameterasu's mirror? I had no idea, the discs simply suggested the sun and mirror symbols. Subsequently, however, I found this entry describing these 12 shrines as 'Kumano' in origin. According to this wikipedia article, Kumano shrines are a blending of Buddhist sacred images with older Shinto gods.




Then there’s a good long hike up to temple 44, on the Shikoku plateau. The map shows it as 67.2 kilometres. But there’s a lot to see along the way, as the road winds through the usual farmlands, but also through Ozu, a nice small city with a bangai temple, and then through Ichiko, with it’s restored edo era streets.



Toyogahashi Eitokuji is a bangai (un-numbered) temple in Ozu. There are (I think) twenty bangai temples; Mikurado, Kukai’s cave on Cape Muroto, is a bangai temple – and also one of the holiest places in the pilgrimage. This is another special temple for Kukai, commemorating the night he spent under a bridge at this place 1200 years ago. I wonder if this site and event was the basis for the practice of walking henro never to tap their sticks on bridges as they cross, for they may disturb Kukai’s rest.



There is a temple beside the bridge (which is a modern four lane structure), and a stairway leading down. Under the bridge is another shrine. It’s way cool! There was an older man sitting down there, in the shade, feeding the pigeons, and, from the presence of a rather large school of catfish around him, the fish. He seemed a little suspicious of me, but I smiled and said hello anyway, and did my prayers, and took my pictures.





Around 1pm, dazed by the heat, in Uchiko, I stopped into a Marunaka supermarket. I needed lunch, a soft drink, or the air conditioning, all, it seemed, in equal measure. While I stood there for a moment, monitoring the drop in my body temperature (I could feel it; what relief!) a 30 - something woman ran up to me and asked me if I was a pilgrim. It was a rather obvious question; I was wearing my pilgrim vest and sash, as I always did unless eating or going to the bathroom - but she was just being polite.

Still dazed, I stared back at her for a moment, before collecting my wits and answering, as politely as I could, that, well, yes, I was...whereupon she handed me four or five candies as o-settai. I found myself quite touched, broke out in a big smile and thanked her profusely. She smiled back and ran away. It made my day.

Much refreshed, I continued, leaving rte. 56 and climbing along the Odagawa on rte. 379 toward Kuma. But I missed Uchiko! Next time I will stop there. If the pilgrim is interested in Japanese architecture, this place is a treasure trove of restored buildings and streets, as individualistic yet representative as Gion in Kyoto.

I came upon a walking pilgrim who was pushing a loaded cart, as big as he was, up the pass to Kuma Kogen! I waved but he ignored me, lost, I assume, in the effort to get up the mountain. It must have been a miserable push in the intense heat. In hindsight, it would have been nice to stop and given him some water…but I was busy with the climb myself. This ascent is about 13 kilometres long, up onto the plateau. I believe I saw a sign naming it the Sato Pass, though my map book identifies it as the Mayumi-toge...it's a long steep haul.



Being a cyclist, I found I had to continue east on 380 to where it meets 33, and turn left and northward up the hill along the Kuma-gawa for a few kilometres to reach Kuma Kogen, a small farming and logging town, with a popular ski hill nearby. I’d been here a couple of times before with my friends Katsuhiko and Chiomi Ochi, and their boys, Kazuma, Toshiki and Ryota, to watch them play baseball. The walking trails cuts across the mountains at this point; it would be an interesting hike!

I made it to Kuma around 4:45, soaked by a squall in the last few kilometres, and decided to leave Temple 44 for the morning. Daihoji is right near downtown Kuma, but I wasn’t sure exactly where, and as it turns out I missed the turnoff; the temple was not really visible from the main street, so instead I looked around for a minshuku or business hotel…and could not find one that was open.

I finally got a room at a slightly swank looking place called the Yasurage no Yado Denko. I think it was about ¥5,200 ($52). There appeared to be no one else there. The young proprietor didn’t seem overly happy to see me, but the traditional tatami room he showed me to was nice. A long, hot day was over.




From my notes: A sense of completion is building now; in two more days I’ll have finished the circuit. I’m looking forward to Iwayaji, the cliff temple, and the ride down into Matsuyama tomorrow. I have a sense of being back on home turf again.

Cycling the Shikoku no Michu 15

Day Fifteen: The Ocean and Uwajima, Temples 39, 40

Weather: Another broiling, beautiful day, with surprise showers (four of them).


A late start, 8 am, but I nevertheless covered 110 km. to Uwajima by 7pm.

Dinner was so good that I wanted to eat breakfast also at the minshuku I was staying in on the tip of the Cape, so rather than leave at my usual time, I stayed till 7 am when it was served. Well worth the wait, a traditional Japanese breakfast of broiled small whitefish, rice, tofu and tea. Nice! But I missed not having coffee. No matter; after loading up and saying goodbye, I hit up the nearest combini for one, and headed around the corner of Cape Ashizuri.

The road is lovely here, almost as nice as the approach on the east side of the cape; a small, often one-lane, cliffside highway, winding around on the side of the mountains 50 metres off the water, often tree shaded, with sudden views of the ocean to the south.

Forty minutes into my ride, I saw a beautiful, dying butterfly on the sidewalk right near where the route 347 cuts across the tip of the cape, in a town called Shimizu.

A bit further on, I decided to try to cut inland to the next temple, number 39, Enkoji. It looked as if taking route 28, switching to 344, then cutting left on 21 to where it meets the major route 56 cutting across the peninsula would bring me almost to the door of Enkoji. On the map it has a kind of certainty I find often vanishes in the small streets of the villages, and the hills. Any way I turned right, inland, at a small village. A local, when asked, told me I had to go a little bit west, then cut in to get there. So I followed some tiny streets west to the next, sort of major street running north, and followed it. In a couple of blocks I was out of the village, cycling along a lovely stream I assumed was the Soro-gawa.



The road, twisting, quiet, rose gently through a small, narrowing valley of farms and woodlots. I decided I didn’t care if I got to Enkoji quickly or not, this was wonderful!





The road, though still paved, also got very small, as they often seem to when they hit the hills, and sported a few turnoffs not marked on my maps. Interestingly, my confidence at this point was much greater than earlier in the trip; I knew I was going generally in the right direction, so it was ok! I found I was much less worried about getting lost. I found a lovely roadside monument.


A few cars passed, the drivers curious. I smiled and waved, and kept going up. Just as I was beginning to conclude I really was totally lost, I hit what was obviously the top of the small pass I had been climbing, and coasted down, the new valley rapidly opening up to more farms. Half an hour later I was at route 56, Enkoji only a couple of kilometres to the left and up the hill. It was lovely countryside.


Enkoji's main gate.





The distance from temple 38 to 39 in my map book is set at about 53 kilometres; one of the three walking routes shown follows the exact route I took, leaving the roads only in the last kilometre or so. I did not see any arukihenro, however.





















Leaving Enkoji, at the junction of 56, I met the two bike henro I’d seen the day before. I told them I would see them at the next temple, Kanjizaiji, but I felt that I was moving much faster at this point than they were, so... I probably wouldn’t.







My route took me down highway 56 to Sukumo, and north along the shoreline to Misho. Just outside of Sukumo, I found this dead cat on the sidewalk.








Temple 40, Kanjizaiji is sited in downtown Misho. The distance from 39 to 40: 26 kilometres or so.







An octagonal shrine.








Temple graveyard.







Leaving Misho, I continued north along the ocean to Uchiumi, then inland and over a pass into Uwajima. Along the way, some wonderful ocean views, and a large exposure of black shale. I checked it for fossils but came away disappointed.





Just before turning inland I found a wonderful surprise along one of the long tunnels: a large bike and pedestrian tunnel! If I recall, it was just over 1 kilometre long. What luxury, not worrying about having an elbow removed by a logging truck. Two days later, near Kuma, I almost did have one taken off.

A few kilometres past Uchiumi, I discovered a large camping park (not so common in Japan) called Nanrakuen Park. It looked like a great place to hang out.

I ran into two young cycling henro, riding fast, and I rode fast just behind them, just because it felt good, passing them as they stopped to rest. I kept expecting them to pass me again going down into Uwajima but didn’t see them.

I reached Uwajima and found a small downtown hotel by about 7:30. The manager seemed quite reserved, but willing to accommodate me. I nicked out after a shower to pick up some combini bento. It was a long but very rewarding day.