17 March 2025 - Day 15 -Temples 31, 32 and 33 - 21 km

The morning started with a beautiful sunrise and another excellent breakfast. I stepped out of the Business Hotel I stayed at and realised it was darn cold in spite of the blue sky and the sun. So I walked a little faster towards Chikurinji, Temple 31.

The way up towards the Temple led through the Botanical Garden of Kochi which is a must see for any Kochi traveller! In a few weeks’ time, when everything is in bloom, I’d love to come back and have another look. I was so into this still sleeping beauty that I got lost and needed to ask the lady working in the Glasshouse part of the Garden to let me out and show me the way to Chikurinji. I guess I was not the first person to get lost. She laughed, let me out of the trap and here I was, standing in front of the stairs to Temple 31.

And it was another masterpiece, built hundreds of years ago on top of a mountain. The only 5-story Pagoda in Kochi Prefecture stands here, it was built in 1980 after a typhoon had destroyed the 3-story Pagoda that stood there before. It was hard to leave, especially with the sun shining, but I had two more Temples to discover so off I went.

On the road I ran into Cathy whom I hadn’t seen for at least a week and we hugged and had a short chat before we had to go our separate ways.

With the perfect weather, the mountains were visible once again and the tops of the highest ones were glazed in powder sugar. It had snowed in the mountains!

The climb up the hill to Zenjibuji Temple was okay, I had decided to stay on the main road instead of taking the smaller and steeper hiking trails. This was the first Temple with a view. What a breathtaking place!!! As it was about lunchtime I decided to take a break up there in the sun after the rituals, and have a little something to eat. Here I saw and talked to a nice young British couple again, whose names I haven’t picked up yet though.

The road to Sekkeiji then, was uneventful except for the short transfer on a ferry boat. The Temple was also a beautiful one, but can’t compare with the other two I have seen today.

My accommodation was just opposite the Temple, but again I was too early for check-in so I waited on a bench outside. When the hostess arrived she immediately poured me some ocha (green tea) and prepared a good hot bath.

Dinner was excellent (what a surprise) and I sat with Joe, who stayed at the same Inn as me again. Joe speaks perfect Japanese and was so kind to translate some of the things that were said. We also met a Japanese Henro doing his 99th pilgrimage (not all on foot though) and who presented his golden osamefuda and his stamp book that is all red with the 99 red stamps on each page. What an honour!

Tomorrow will be a long day again, so that’s it for today. Thanks again for reading. If you want to send me messages, I’d love to hear from you by whichever means suits you. Domo arrigato gozaimas.