5 April 2025 - Day 34 - To Kuma Kogen Town - 25,5 km
- carolebertemes
- Apr 5, 2025
- 3 min read
Yesterday’s RTL Interview went quite well I think but it finished later than I had thought and I couldn’t sleep right away. So getting up at 5:45 this morning was a little hard. According to my heater the temperature in my room had dropped to a mere 9 degrees and I just didn’t feel like peeling myself out of the warm bedding.
But breakfast was waiting and so was another mountain day I was nervous about. I left the Inn at 7:30 to a cold cloudy morning and the road was going steadily uphill. After 8-9 km, a Tunnel I hadn’t planned for, but luckily there was a narrow sidewalk and I felt safe enough with my LEDs on.
After having checked the maps over and over again I had decided to take the route that did have a few hiking trails instead of just staying on the roads all the time. This was a good decision. The trails were ok and the scenery is after all a lot more variable. Unfortunately the trails led through a forest where a lot of logging had been going on lately, so seeing the bare mountains without their cedar tree cover made me feel sad.
The worst thing about my choice of doing the southern route was that today the first toilets were situated a few kilometers from the Temple, so I had a 4,5 hour walk before I could reach them. I was happy for this first break and also made it my lunch break. It was 12 o’clock and I was close to my accommodation and close to Daihoji, Temple 44.
While I was having my break I noticed that Josée had texted me that she was walking faster than she thought and that she was on her way to Daihoji after all. We decided to meet at the Temple and go for a “Temple-Half-Time-Beer” afterwards.
The Gate to the Temple site was impressive! A huge wooden Gate with many wood carvings and two huge straw strings covered in osamefuda and coins. The Temple itself was built on several levels and was of course also very pretty.
So after doing my rituals and getting my scroll and stampbook signed and dried I found Josée who had just arrived. When she was ready we walked back into Kuma Kogen, a cute little town in a plain surrounded by mountains. The town was extraordinarily pretty today because of the Kumamachi Hina Doll Festival. The entire main street was decorated with Sakura flowers and almost every house had adorned their entrance, windows or other parts of their house with small dolls that wore pompous clothes. It was a feast for the eyes and of course Josée and I were mesmerized by all this cuteness.
The idea of having a beer together was however not forgotten, but it was impossible to find a place where we could do this. The restaurants had all closed by this time and there was no bar open. So we went to the conbini, bought ourselves two cans of beer and some chips and sat on a little wall next to the parking lot. It must have looked strange to see two henros sitting there with their beers and sure enough a nice lady on her bike who came out of the store cycled over to us and gave both of us a bottle of vitamine C juice as ossetai.
Josée then took a taxi to her accommodation almost 10 km back but she might walk the whole part again tomorrow morning. They drove me the 250 m to my accommodation and here was Marjorie waiting for me. She showed me around and gave me a few tips about how best to walk to Temple 45 tomorrow, which is a loop and that’s why I will be staying here two nights.
Dinner was a kind of Japanese fondue and tasted excellent! The nice lady who tends to this inn on her own made me another hotel reservation so that now I have booked everything back to Tokushima, the starting place of this amazing pilgrimage.
If you are interested in the outcome of the RTL interview, here’s the link:
Thank you for reading and being part of my adventure.
Nice to read a fee days in front of me. Your on the wright trail 🙏
TOP Carole an RESPEKT.
DK
Carlo