Henro Day 26

I walked with OS-san from the tsuyadou.

Some pretty flowers which were on the roadside. They look a it washed out from the camera flash, though…

Today’s mountain path!

Took a break with OS-san

The view from the peak at a height of about 500 meters.

After descending from the mountain, a lady working amongst the mandarin trees gave us each 3 mandarins as settai. Tasty!

Back to road.

Uwajima City, Tsushima Town

Shinbashi ryokan in Tsushima Town

I bought an apple from a shop about 1 minute walk from the ryokan, and after talking to the lady in the shop and a local, the local lady presented me with 3 mandarins. Another hit of vitamin C!

Later, when I was watching TV in the ryokan, an elderly man also staying the night who I greeted earlier knocked on the door then gave me a banana and a sports drink.

My fruit-life is starting to get surprisingly fulfilling! lol

Henro Day 25

Today I went to #39, then #40 and stayed the night in #40’s tsuyadou* with 2 other walkers.

*Tsuyadou is a free wake. In this case a small Japanese style room with blankets provided.

Sukumo City, 39th temple – Enkouji

I passed from Kouchi prefecture into Ehime prefecture here.

Some cows approached me, so I said hi and took a picture.

Short break

The old path here had concrete, gravel and earth parts so was kind of strange.

Took another short break at this pretty henro rest stop.

Ainan Town, 40th temple - Kanjizaiji

The tsuyadou in Kanjizaiji

There were 3 of us staying the night and I don’t think any more would fit.
It was a little cold, but I managed to sleep without catching a cold.

Henro Day 24

Today I met YH-san, a university teacher. (I’ve met him before, but this is the first mention on the blog)

We walk at about the same pace, so we walked together all day.

He knows a lot about religious studies and anthropology and is very interesting to talk to.

I found a shop where you can LEST while drinking coffee. I guess they meant rest… (lol)

The person in the right photo is YH-san.

We took a short break at Kaminagatani assembly hall.

We walked the Shinnen henro path

There was a place keeping a goat (why!?) so we said hi to it.

After finishing the Shinnen henro path, we walked another ~8KM henro path which ran beside a road.

Tsurunoya Ryokan. I was the only one staying, but the host was friendly, the room was large and the food was good. The only small minus was the TV was an old tube one with a bad picture.

Henro Day 23

I walked the 6KM to the temple Kongoufukuji and then walked back 20KM the way I came.
Why? Because that’s the best route to take to the next temple #39.

The sunrise at 6am

The road ahead splits onto the old henro path to the right and the car road to the right.

I tried taking the right path, but it was a pretty wild mountain path. I tried walking almost all of the possible paths where the road split but they were all dead ends (ended in wilderness or unwalkably dangerous paths). I wasted about an hour.

The view from the viewing platform on Ashizuri cape

Bronze statue of Nakahama Manjirou at the bottom of the viewing platform

In 1841 the fishing ship he was on wrecked and he was saved by an American ship and came to live in America. 10 years later he returned to Japan and taught English and American sailing techniques etc.

Tosashimizu City, temple 38 – Kongoufukuji

The road back

My room and the outside view of guesthouse Kumomo

The lady running the guesthouse was cheerful, since there was a room left but she hadn’t prepared it yet, she offered a small room for 1000 yen discount.
I decided there was plenty of room to sleep, so in the name of saving a little money I accepted. The room was inside the building to the left in the outdoor photo.
The hostess gave me a cushion for Kouboudaishi to sit on (a small cushion for the cane to stand on) as a settai.
The following morning she also gave me 2 onigiri and some sweets.

She was very nice and I was grateful.