All good journeys eventually reach an end, and I’m getting close on this one. I’ll have reached Temple 87 in a few days if all goes according to plan (which it usually does in Japan). From there it’s a tough climb up and over a series of mountains to reach #88 and then two short days back to Temple #1 to complete the circle.

Quiet village roads of northern Ehime

The area I’ve been in for the last week or thereabouts is much more densely populated and busy, as I expected. But there are some surprisingly rural areas as well, and beautiful quiet farming roads the route follows for much of the time. Often you can hear traffic from a busy road only a kilometre away but are separated by rice fields or stands of forest.

The temples now are closely bunched together, and quite beautiful. Temple 75 is the birthplace of Kōbō Daishi the patron, as it were, of the pilgrimage. It’s a sprawling, elegant temple and grounds, well visited by people from all over Japan.

Temple 75, “Zentsūji” (善通寺)

It’s more usual now to see large buses pull up in front of temples and disgorge a few dozen elderly visitors. They pray and get back on the bus and race off to the next one. Because many of the temples are only a kilometre or less apart, and because the bus has to navigate roads and one-way avenues I usually beat them to the next temple.

Temple 77, “Doryuji”

Posing with fellow pilgrims on the road, near Temple 74

It’s handy being closer to amenities; shops, grocery stores, pubs, restaurants. I had a fun night in a typical Japanese izakaya the other night, explaining my pilgrimage to a group of people at a busy table near mine. Funny how my Japanese improved dramatically as the drinks arrived and the story played out.

Getting watered in a Matsuyama pub

I bumped into a woman the other day I met on day two and hadn’t seen since. We stayed in the same minshuku that night and swapped stories. She’d had trouble with her knees for a week or so, and some blisters (join the club) but has been plugging along the whole time. We’d stayed in many of the same places but had somehow managed to miss each other all these weeks, one step ahead or behind the other.

Meeting the locals

Yesterday I met a young couple from Halifax (the one in Nova Scotia). They’ve been sleeping out rough most every night, to save money. They sleep in school yards, parks, river banks, people’s farms and bus shelters. “As soon as it’s dark you can sleep anywhere,” Lenny told me. On several occasions people have invited them to sleep in their homes.

It’s not always traditional Japanese design along the way (or anything sensical either)

A Japanese man told me a funny story about “Mr. Henro”, a middle aged guy who’s been walking the pilgrimage repeatedly for over fifteen years. He finishes and starts again, over and over and has done it more than a hundred times. Local people take care of him along the way. He’s getting well known and has been on the TV which in turn caught the attention of the police in Kyūshū who’ve been looking for him. He’s wanted for murder apparently.

I feel excellent, strong and healthy and am still interested in walking. That’s not to say I won’t be somewhat happy to have the journey done. I think that’s the way it is with a lot of journeys. Finishing one clears room for the next one, is how I look at it. But I’m not there yet. I can picture myself walking into the grounds of Temple 1 where I started back in early October. That will be the end. Kechigan, completing the circle.

Local resident of Tadotsu explaining weather patterns to prepare me for the day

Wise pilgrim

Stay tuned!