17 April 2025 - Day 46 - Temples 68, 69 and 70, the Golden Coin and a few nice encounters - 18,5 km

I had a really good night’s sleep for once and felt ready for a new walking day before 6. But today was going to be a short day and check-in was only after 17:00 so there was no need to rush. I had breakfast after 7 and left the hotel around 8:30.

The sun was out and it was already nicely warm so before I even reached the first temple I took off my light jacket. The double Temple 68/69 is well situated in a big park with some other shrines and the famous sand scuplture of the Golden Coin. So I took my time to visit all of these, did my morning practice of more than 400 stairs and saw many elderly Japanese do the same. They marched up and down the stairs, doing some stretching in between. No wonder Japanese people stay fit even in old age.

Of course some of these men asked me where I come from and am I walking the whole pilgrimage. One man even shook my hand and applauded me on my achievement so far. It was with a big grin on my face that I continued my round in this nice parc. It is overwhelming how a lot of Japanese people really respect and almost worship walking henros. They give us pilgrims so much kindness just by sharing a few encouraging words with us.

After the parc I finally entered the double Temple Jinne-in/Kannon-ji and first had to look at the map in Oliver Dunskus’ book in order to know which building belongs where and where should I pray. These Temples are situated within the same parc and the few henro that sang their sutras at both hondos (Main Temples) and Daishidos helped with a festive atmosphere. The good thing was that there is only one stamp office so you get both stamps at the same place.

I then needed to walk a few kilometers along the riverbanks to Temple Motoyama-ji (Nr 70), the 5-Story-Pagoda could be seen from afar. The Hondo of this Temple is the oldest original one of the 88 and was built in 1300, it is a national treasure. A few gardeners were at work chipping away some branches from several of the big old trees.

While I was sitting on a bench enjoying the sun and the atmosphere, three ladies approached me with the usual question: where are you from? And this time it was me who was surprised by their reaction! Oh Luxembourg? We have already been there! My daughter lives in Brussels! After many ahs and ohs, they explained to me the meaning of the kanji on my kongozue and my pouch: two people, meaning the carrier is always protected by Kukai.

It was close to lunch hour and my inn tonight doesn’t provide food, so I decided to have some sushi along the road, there was a hint in Oliver’s book and the guidebook that there’s a sushi place on the way. I was expecting a nice cozy family restaurant but it was a big canteen style restaurant with several sushi conveyor belts and personnalised screens for ordering. It took me a little to get accustomed to the system but then I ordered some sushi and some ramen. All in all it was ok.

I then slowly continued to my Guesthouse where I had to wait for check-in. It’s a really nice place, completely new or renovated and the owners speak English. There’s also a pub that serves real henro beer and I met a few new henros tonight.

But now it's time for bed! Thanks for reading!