It was time to head out of the mountains. A lot of the route from here on out follows the coast around Shikoku. Before that I had to follow the main road out of the mountains and then pass through a hilly forest to reach Temple 22 Byodoji. I saw a lot of downed trees and a few snakes on my way up which made me speed up. I am usually not squeamish of snakes, but there are some pretty scary ones here and there.
The route then leads through a small town and into the temple. There might of been a festival or an event recently because there were ribbons hanging through out the temple. I remember passing through the gates and this young guy was standing there. He didn’t enter the temple, just stood by the gate. I thought, this guy, he’s a reporter isn’t he. Just as this older couple were exiting the temple he went in for the strike haha he was a reporter. The route to get down the coast is following the main highway down and I heard that there isn’t much to see and you have to go through some tunnels which can be a bit dangerous. Knowing my pace and what the other pilgrims I had run into say I decided to take the train down.
You hear that the trains in Japan are always on time. I would say that they are always on time near the cities. Out in the country they can be a bit late. In this case it was around 45 minutes late. But with all odd things comes amazing things. As I waited another man came onto the platform with me. He didn’t have any of the pilgrim stuff, but he was making his rounds to the 88. I fumbled a conversation with him and we rode the train (when it came) down to Miami-Cho.
Temple 23, Yakuoji, was impressive. Standing among the tree filled cliffside is this giant tower of red and white.
Of course there are stairs, but it was worth it. There were stone lanterns everywhere, different Kami (gods) shrines here and there and then the view when you went to the top. Even when riding the train the sea could only be seen here and there. In Minami-cho there is a beach, but is in the north east side of town. From the top you can get a clear view.
The main gate
The stone lanterns. I noticed these were actually plugged in somewhere so they were all electric.
The wood carving on the shrines is excellent. Each shrine has very intricate carvings of many different things.
The tower was a sort of museum. I didn’t need up going in.
The view from the top of the tower towards the ocean.
View of the tower from the river.
Me and my new friend said goodbye at the gate and he told me to be careful in a very heartfelt way. What I mean by that is that I could tell he really meant it.
I stayed in Miami-cho for two nights at a place called Ichi the hostelran by a guy named Hero. He actually renovated the whole place with a friend of his. The next post will be about my day off and the peopel at Ichi that I met. I ran into a friend from earlier in my trip too.
As alaways thank you for reacding and I apologize for the pictures being here and Instagram. I will work on it.
Cheers ~!