Day Nine: Riding out, Temples 14 – 21
Weather: Pouring rain till 2 pm, then mixed sun and cloud, fog at the top of the mountain.
Jorakuji. Strange decorative rock forms built into the temple grounds.I backtracked nine kilometres to temple 14, Jorakuji, as it started to pour rain. To my astonishment, the priest there gave me 500 yen o-settai when I gave her my book and 300 yen for the temple calligraphy in my nokyocho. Cheered, I put my head down and pedalled out.
Kokobunji, temple 15. More lens fogging.
Temple 16, Kanonji. There is a sacred well here, said to cure all manner of illness. They sell the water as medicine.
Temple 17, Ijodoji.
Temples 14 through 17 are all within about seven kilometres of each other; then there is a longer ride of 17 kilometres to temple 18.
I stopped at a Mcdonalds a few hours later, utterly soaked and feeling slightly chilled. I ate near the door, and left a puddle two feet wide when I left twenty minutes later. Often the problem with riding in hard rain is that if the rain gets cold, or the temperature drops, it can get very cold. So I took one of the large, transparent, garbage bags I’d brought along for this purpose, cut holes for the neck and arms, and put it on. It worked, and kept me, not dry of course, but warm, until the sun came out later. I rode south down route 55 to temple 18, Onzanji.
Temple 18, Onzanji.
Tatsueji, temple 19
Riding through rain like this is, for me, a matter of keeping my head down and slogging away. But it still seems to take longer to get anywhere…
The rain eased off around two and I took off my raincoat a little later. I climbed route 16, up a steep municipal road, then up route 146 to temple 20, Kakurinji.
I think it must have been close to three thirty when I decided to try for temple 21, Tairiuji, the mountaintop temple. I dropped over the south side of the mountain from Kakurinji, then was able to follow route 95 east, turning north onto route 28 to climb up and round to Tairiuji from the small, little-used, steep back road. There is a ropeway running up the other side of the mountain. I found myself racing the clock up the mountain, walking the last kilometre or so on a path and arriving at the top, exhausted and convinced the place would be closed.
There's a daruma watching me! Or maybe he's just looking at the scenery.It was empty, except for the ropeway operator and the priest, who signed my nokyocho without comment. Lucky two days in a row! I had resolved to pitch my tent and stay there dinner or not, till tomorrow, rather than climb back up the mountain again. Luckily, I didn’t have to. I took half an hour to pray and shoot some photos.
Tairiuji is an extraordinarily beautiful temple, but must seem quite isolated in the winter, with no one about. It was foggy up there, though it had been sunny on the way up, and I came back out of it, later, twenty minutes down the highway. It had a very special atmosphere and some gorgeous big trees.
At six I was standing by my bike in the parking lot; by 7:15 I was talking to a man at a hotel in Emoto, about 12 km. away, and got a room there. He was very nice; most of his trade in the hotel seemed to be work crews and factory workers in the area. My room was comfortable and I was able to do my laundry.
I cycled three kilometres back up the road to a combini for some bento, as I was too late for dinner. A tough but rewarding day. I had a major rash on the inside of my upper thighs from the rubbing of my soaked shorts and the seat. Also noticed the front wheel bearings making funny noises again
