29 March 2025 - Day 27 - Temple 40 and a new Dojo - 24 km

The hostess gave me a warm goodbye and took some more pictures of us, then I was on my way again. A mountain pass was on the menu, but it could be avoided by walking the rather busy route 56 and adding an extra kilometer or two. So that’s what I did.

I still had to go up, but much less and on a normal street compared to tiny goat trails. Just a few kilometers into my walk I already managed the next highlight, the change of prefecture, which means that we enter a new Dojo. The Dojo of Ascetic Practice has been taken care of, now it’s time for the Dojo of Enlightenment! And this particular Dojo started with … two tunnels!

Once I was back on the official Henro trail, the landscapes became even more beautiful again. In the forests on the mountains there are Sakura in bloom everywhere. A long part of the walk was along rivers where there was enough wildlife to sit and watch and forget the time.

And then I arrived at Kanjizaiji, Temple 40. Another impressive Temple situated in a well tended garden. Here I shortly saw Marjorie, who was on her way out and I talked to Lizzie and John, who are doing this trip as their honeymoon!

Just a few kilometers further was my inn for tonight. The hostess is very kind and offered to drive me to the supermarket later, with the two other guests she expected, to get some dinner and breakfast, as she doesn’t supply it. But impatient as I (still) am, I finally went there on foot, it was hardly a 7 minute walk each way.

When I later walked down the stairs to take a shower, the second guest had just arrived. What a nice surprise, it’s Jay! And we had a lot of things to talk about, as we haven’t seen each other for several days.

But first a few words about onsen, bath, shower. I’m not sure if it’s everywhere in Japan, but at least here on Shikoku, people like to take a good hot bath. For us Henros, this can be a nice hot tub at the accommodation or at a public bath (onsen). The ritual is the same for both. Before you let your naked body soak in the tub, you wash yourself under the shower (with soap etc. that is normally provided). Then you rinse all of the soap off your body and only then can you slide into the hot water. When you’re done you get out of the tub, maybe rinse yourself off again and dry yourself with the towel (mostly provided) before going back to the changing room. If the bath (ofuro) has been filled at your inn, you don’t let the water out, instead you cover the filled tub with the cover provided so the water remains hot for the next person.

So after said shower and after Jay came back from the supermarket with our hostess we had dinner together in the lady’s sitting room. With translation technology we managed to have a very amusing and good self-bought dinner. It was one of the most enjoyable evenings so far. The landlady will turn 80 in May but she doesn’t look it and is very open and funny! Thanks for this lovely time!!

And on this lovely feeling I leave you for tonight. Tomorrow will be another templeless day. Thank you for reading and staying with me!