Kanonji City to Zentsuji, 25.6 km
Susan arrived last night after the whole planes, trains and automobiles routine to get from Vancouver to near Temple 70. Several trains actually, so the Japan travel app was worth the cost – even though it’s actually free!
Between writing yesterday’s post and collecting Susan from the station we had a few curious encounters. We’d tried to go to a curry restaurant conveniently located next tto the train station, but they’d sold out if curry at lunchtime. Plan B was the nearby Izakaya – a type of small local bar that also serves food not dissimilar to a Spanish tapas bar. After ordering the requisite beer and first round of food, a guy from the adjacent table (and there were only 3 tables and the counter) came over to say hello and find out more about us – always a fun experience when there is a language barrier! Shortly after 3 glasses of saki arrived with his compliments! Later in the piece another guy who’d been eating alone contributed ¥1,500 towards our tab as settai. There were the required photos and lots of laughter, but it was another example of the respect the local people have for pilgrims walking the pilgrimage.
This morning, Susan took a train three stops and met us at the first temple, being understandably reluctant to commit to 25 km on her first day.
Iyadaniji (Temple 71) was one of our top 5to date. Set high on a rocky hillside, with way too may steps, it was a peaceful haven after 2 hours of walking across what passes for suburbs here.
Temples 72, 73, 74 and 75 came by in quick succession. Temple 75, Zentsuji, is the birthplace of Kūkai, and is a very large and beautiful temple complex. It helped that we arrived later in the day when it was less crowded.
