The Best of Both Worlds

I was randomly going through some of my old journals from Japan, and thought it would be good to post some of the more interesting entries on this site.  Here is one that I wrote while hiking the 88 temple pilgrimage on the island of Shikoku in the summer of 2004.  This was written just after leaing Koch city, on the southern coast of the island, as I worked my way west toward the cape of Ashiziri, and then on around the coast into Ehiime prefecture. 

August 17, 2004

The majority of yesterday was spent lugging my backpack 8 kilometers from temples #34-35.

I can’t remember the last time I was so tired or felt so proud of myself for a physical accomplishment.  My feet were in pain, and my thighs were aching, but I didn’t stop even though it was a longer walk than I had planned on.

It all began an temple #33, still in Kochi-city, and near Katsurahama.  That was just a short walk from the bus stop, at which point I had to make a decision on either walking the 7 kms to temple #34, or hitching a ride.  The weather was nice, no rain, and there didn’t seem to be too much traffic heading in my direction so I decided to walk it.  In this hot weather you have to give up any qualms you might have about going around in public in a sweaty, nasty smelling T-shirt.  Its tough at first– I kept thinking I was ruining my clothes for good– but as long as you are not in the rain it doesn’t really bother you any more…

It has been a very interesting couple of days.  Every morning it seemed like I faced a ton of obstacles in my way– weather being the most prominent one– but I always just managed to get through somehow.  Monday night I showed up at temple #36, Kiyotaki-ji, and was offered a place to stay in one of their tatami rooms.  I happily accepted as I had been looking at a rainy night in my tent.  It was only 6:30, but I went straight to sleep.  The temple was set deep in the woods so the mosquitos were pretty thick, but there happened to be a fan in the room so it wasn’t so bad.

I had to ge ou pretty early the next morning if I wanted to get everything in that I had planned, so I left before the guy in the next room and got the bus to the bridge before the next temple.  After checking that out, I got lucky finding a ride hitchhiking, and soon I was on my way to Ashiziri where I arrived early that afternoon.  There was enough time to check out the sites, which aren’t much except for the incredible rock cliffs coming up straight out of the sea.  I met some cool people there, a guy from Italy and two Japanese girls, and we all watched the Olympics together. 

Again the next morning I was up early trying to find rides.  This time it took me a bit of time, but finally I got to #39, and soon after #40.  This was short, so I flew to Uwajima in just enough time to catch the train to #41.  I finally just made number #42 before it closed, when I bumped into the guy who had stayed with me two nights before– he recognized me because of my shoes!