7 April 2025 - Day 36 - Out of the mountains direction Matsuyama - 23 km

My hostess had prepared another good breakfast and two onigiri for lunch and after the usual goodbye ceremony I started walking around 7:30. The first kilometer I had walked the day before but it felt different today. Oh yes, my backpack was back to its usual weight of around 10 kg and it was going uphill out of Kuma-Kogen.

After several kilometers of walking slightly uphill, I reached today’s only short trail part. Luckily it was only downhill but very steep in some parts. Schoolchildren from an Elementary school had prepared little colourful notes encouraging the henros to keep walking and doing their best and these notes were hanging in the bushes and trees along the trail. Very cute!

It was on this section that I got overtaken by … Jay! He was back to his usual top fit form and was almost running down the trail. I told him not to wait on me as I was slowing him down but he wouldn’t hear it. So we walked together into the suburbs of Matsuyama, a big town nestled at the foot of the mountains.

Both Jay and I had our rooms booked at a big Ryokan opposite of Temple 46, which we reached around lunchtime. I entered the Ryokan and asked if I could leave my backpack so I could walk with just my Temple stuff to the three Temples I had planned to visit today.

Without my pack, Jay and I visited Joruriji (Temple 46) which is situated in a lush garden with trees that are said to be over 1000 years old. I decided to make my lunch break in this beautiful spot but Jay walked on.

I then continued to Yasakaji (Temple 47) which is only one kilometer away and here I met Jay again. Here I also visited the cave of 8000 Buddhas, a cave where more than 8000 Buddhas are exposed, all of them gifts from different parts of Japan. I also shook hands with the Hand of Salvation, a hand engraved in stone and said to give good health.

There was still time before check-in so I decided to walk another kilometer to Monjuin (Bekkaku 9), where I did the rituals and then bought my third bekkaku pearl. This was as far as I wanted to go, I will walk this street again tomorrow but will then only visit 4 Temples instead of 6 during the day.

So I returned to my Ryokan and checked in, my backpack had already been brought to my room. Thanks for this service. At dinner I finally met Hiva, an Iranian-Danish guy Jay had told me about and the three of us had a good time over a good dinner.

Thanks for your time! More news from Shikoku tomorrow.