2016 Japan's Kumano Kodo Ancient Trail Hike - Day 4

Day 4

2016-04-15 Friday

Yunomine Onsen

No hiking today, we are taking it easy before the hardest day of hiking tomorrow. After breakfast we took a local bus to a neighboring town where we boarded 8-person boats for a 90 minute boat ride down the Kumano river. We are in a deep valley, surrounded by high,  steep mountains.  In 2011 this valley was devastated by a powerful typhoon (hurricane) and we can still see signs where the water crested 50 to 70 meters above normal and marking the devastation.

We ended the ride at the town of Shingu where we visited the second of the three Grand Shrines. Afterwards we were taken to a restaurant where we ate a delicious bento box lunch.

We had to take two busses to get back to our hotel. I was surprised at the quality of the bus service in Japan,  Buses arrive right on schedule, you board and get a ticket from a machine with the stop number printed on it. In the front of the bus there is a panel that lists the cost to the next few stops and when you arrive you present the ticket to the driver and deposit the appropriate amount of coins or money in the collection machine. The driver can provide change.

Back to the hotel we went to the onsen to clean up and relax before dinner. The food was again delicious, I tried for the first time baby squid sashimi. Quite good.

Walking to the boats, Kumano river:

Ready for the adventure:

 At the Grand Shrine of Shingu:

Temple's sake barrel:

 The rope around the tree indicates that the tree is a sacred place, home to a deity:

Our bento box lunch:

2016 Japan's Kumano Kodo Ancient Trail Hike - Day 3

Day 3
2016-04-14 Thursday
Chikatsuyu / Yunomine Onsen
To everyone’s delight, breakfast was "western". There were rolls, yogurt and fruit! Today we walked two segments of the Kumano Kodo Ancient Trail, the first was quite hilly and difficult and about 5 Km Then we took a bus to another village on top of a mountain, so that we would hike a mostly downhill 7 Km segment to the Grand Shrine at Hongu.

Both segments were beautiful. After we arrived and visited the Grand Shrine at Hongu we took a local bus for about 20 minutes to go to the Yunomine Onsen, a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn), famous for its hot baths. Our room, Japanese style, was quite nice and had a great view of the mountains. We were reunited with our luggage, allowing us to change outfits for tomorrow’s hike. At the hotel all guest use yukatas, the day-to-day cotton robe.

Delio and I quickly checked in, donned our yukatas and went to wash our clothes on the self-service washing machines. There was one little problem: the instructions were only in Japanese! We were trying to figure out which buttons to press to select the wash style and turn the thing on when an elderly Japanese woman, guest of the hotel, took pity of us and assumed control of the situation. We gave her repeated deep bows of appreciation and went to the onsen.

After cleaning ourselves up and immersing in the indoor pools we decided to try the outdoor onsen of the hotel. It’s on top of a hill behind the hotel and there is a self-service small tram that takes you up and down the hill. To reach the onsen we had to walk through a lounge area. Our saviour was resting the at one of the lounges and, upon seeing us she rushed to us and, using gestures made us understand that the lounge was a no slipper area. We were walking in the slippers given to us at check in to wear in the public areas, we failed to notice that the lounge area had tatamis… We slipped the sandals off, walked to the outside patio, put the slippers back on and the old lady came back running to point us to a shelf where you put your “inside” slippers and pick up on of the available pairs of “outside” sleepers. We bowed again in thanks, apologizing profusely for our “faux pas.”

The self-service tram was another adventure, all instructions were only in Japanese. This time we were rescued by a young Japanese couple, honeymooners also heading out to the onsen. The outdoor onsen was nice with great views, but it was rather chilly outside, so we retreated to the indoor one. By then the washing cycle was over and our Japanese friend, still hanging out at the lounge, followed us to the machines to help us with the dryer. Very kind indeed.

Dinner was at 1800, traditional Japanese, with the twist that the dishes were prepared with the mineral hot spring water, claimed to be medicinal. Quite good.

Morning in Chikatsuyu:

Steps leading to a torii gate:

Beautiful rhododendron:

Farmers shooting the breeze by the front door:

Flowering tree:

Steps and torii gate leading to a small mountain shrine:

Woman foraging by the side of the road:

Walk in the woods:

Small landholding, tea bushes in the foreground:

The overcast day started to clear up:

We finally arrived at the Grand Shrine at Hongu, one of the three grand shrines of the Ancient Kumano Kodo Trail:

Erico and Delio at the front gate:

Our room at the ryokan:

Our delicious dinner:

2016 Japan's Kumano Kodo Ancient Trail Hike - Day 2

Day 2

2016-04-13 Wednesday

Takahara / Chikatsuyu

Breakfast was scheduled for 0800, but we were up early and went to the lobby to access the Internet, the only place we can.. Jean was already up and offered us freshly brewed coffee, organic Brazilian coffee that he buys green and roasts himself - another surprise - excellent coffee in the mountains of Japan.

Erico and Jean:

View of the valley, clouded in the early mist:

 Breakfast was typical Japanese breakfast, cooked veggies, rice, pickles, sweet omelette, smoked fish, miso soup. Everything was tasty.

The forecast is for rain, and the guide said that there is a steep climb that’s quite slippery when wet, It had rained overnight.  Departure was scheduled for 9:30, but I made a motion to depart at 9:00 and walk a bit more slowly on account of the slippery trail, today is a short segment and the check in at the new inn is only at 1500 That 's why the plan was to depart only at 0930, but everybody supported my motion.

We left under cloudy skies. Just before we departed Jean gave Mellissa a bottle of red wine for her to celebrate her birthday:

Group photo in front of the inn:

It was a nice walk, up and down mountains, and the incline was not too steep. The rain only started when we stopped for lunch at 1230 at a little food store that had some tables. They allowed us to use the tables as long as we ordered food or drinks.  We had brought lunch boxes from the inn.

Melissa and her birthday balloon:

Forest Shinto Shrine:

Going down to the valley:

Ant and the flower:

We arrived at the destination at 2PM, since we had to kill some time and the guide said the small family inn did not have a bar, we all went to a grocery store to buy beer and wine to celebrate Melissa's birthday. We checked into the inn, a small place on the side of a river that runs along the valley floor. There are only 6 rooms, but it has an onsen in a separate building, so soon Delio and I were at the onsen. The water was the hottest we have enjoyed had so far.

Dinner was early, at 6 PM. There was good Japanese food; they had the usual: pickles, cooked veggies, including an amazing cold cooked small eggplants, sashimi and the two specialties of this village. One is a pot of veggies and bacon cooked on a pot in the table using the hot spring mineral water. It had cabbage, bacon, portobello mushrooms, small thin mushrooms, noodles and lots of fresh tofu. The tofu turned the water milky. It was quite good. The other rice was from this village, instead of plain white rice, cooked with veggies  in an iron pot.It is served with the burned bits and splashed with a little soy sauce. Excellent!! Oh, and a little fried fish that you were supposed to eat whole, from head to tail.

Liz, Melissa's best friend and travel companion on this hike, had ordered a western style birthday cake before the trip started and it arrived from a city more than 100 miles away! It was brought to the dining room after our  dinner and was a complete surprise to the birthday girl.

2016 Japan's Kumano Kodo Ancient Trail Hike - Day 1

Day 1
2016-04-12 Tuesday
Kyoto / Takahara

We are in Kyoto to meet a tour group for a 7-day hike on the Kumano Kodo Ancient Trail, a trail that links several ancient Shinto shrines in the Kii peninsula on Japan's main island. Shinto is the native Japanese religion. Worshipers revere nature gods and the religion still underlies all aspects of Japanese culture and society., Kumano Kodo is a "sister" trail of the Camino de Santiago. If you get a pilgrims “passport” and stamp it at the shrines along the way you get an certification of accomplishment. This, together with a “Compostela” allows you to get a special dual-pilgrimage certificate.

Last night we met our group for introductions and dinner. There are ten of us and one Japanese guide.We are seven Australians, one American and two Brazilians. There’s only one couple, the rest are singletons. Several are married, but partners didn’t come., There are only three women. Our ages vary from mid-20s to mid--70s. We went for dinner in private dining room at a traditional Kyoto restaurant known for it’s multi-course traditional Kyoto cuisine. We introduced ourselves and got to know each other over the many courses of delicious and exquisitely arranged morsels.

Kyoto was just the meeting place. First thing this morning after breakfast in the hotel we took the train to go to Takahara, in the Kii Peninsula to start our hike. Our bags were dispatched to a hotel to be retrieved on Day 3., We must carry everything we need for the next 3 hiking days in our backpack, on our backs. We spent three comfortable hours on the train and forty minutes on the bus to get to the trailhead.Before heading out on the trail we stopped at a covered rest area/convenience store for a bento box lunch.

After lunch we started our hike, stopping to take pictures at the Torii Gate marking the trailhead:

The trail turned out quite steep, today we are hiking only two hours, but it was quite strenuous.

Trail marker:

Walking through the woods:

Shinto Shrine on one of the mountain  peaks:

Rice  paddy on a mountain terrace:

After some huffing and puffing we reached today’s destination, the Organic Hotel Kiri-no-sato. It  is very small, just 10 rooms, but each room overlooks a valley with beautiful mountains on the other side. It has an onsen, so we immediately we hit the baths to soothe our sore legs.

View of the valley and mountains:

Sunset:

After onsen Delio and I went to the bar for pre dinner drinks . We found the innkeeper behind the bar. A very friendly guy,  we quickly discovered he spoke  flawless British accented English and an excellent Spanish. From then on he insisted on addressing Delio and me in Spanish only! He went to school in London and spent several years in Spain.

While we drank and chatted, the innkeeper fired up an outdoor wood pizza oven and said that although our dinner would be family style Japanese dinner, he would serve pizza as one of the courses as he was very proud of his pizza making abilities. Helping to serve the food was a 22-yr old French woman, spending 3 months in Japan working on organic farms and food establishments for room and board. She was part of a government-sponsored program to foster organic farming in Japan and to introduce Japanese culture to young men and women. This inn serves locally grown organic food.

Our other trail-mates started to trickle in, and Jean, the innkeeper’s chosen name, learned that tomorrow will be our companion Melissa's 50th birthday.  He opened a bottle of a local fizzy plum wine, that he claims you can only drink in a few places this area and in a Michelin 2-star restaurant in Tokyo, because the production is tinyl and artisanal. It was delicious.

The dinner was fantastic, a simple presentation but very tasty. The high marks were a toro sashimi (tuna belly) so buttery that it melted in my mouth and a dish prepared on the table in an iron pot over fire In it were  layers of cabbage and thin slices of marbled beef on top ina broth almost covered the cabbage. An iron lid covered the pot tightly and there was a small hole in its top. We were told that when vapor started to come out of the hole the food was ready and should be eaten immediately,  dipping the food in a mixture of vinegar and soy sauce provided in a little pot. The cabbage was cooked "al dente" with the edges slightly burned and caramelized where it touched the hot iron pot. The beef on was cooked just right, no pink, but not overdone either, it melted in your mouth.

The pizza was excellent, Jean is justified in his pride of his pizza making skills. Dessert was raspberry sorbet.  After dinner everybody retreated to their rooms, but Delio and I stayed in the bar-restaurant area for after dinner drinks, as it was not yet even 9 PM. I peered into the kitchen and saw the cook, an old Japanese woman, back hunched with the weight of years and hard work and asked Jean if she would be willing to have a picture taken with me I wanted a memento of this delicious dinner, she agreed.

Jean offered us a very nice aged apple brandy and we exchanged life stories while sipping the delicious Calvados. We spent quite some time chatting with the innkeeper sipping the luscious liquor from Normandy. That’s how we learned that Jean had a passion for acoustic guitar playing, especially Flamenco music. He developed this passion and skills when he lived in Spain. He offered to play, we said off course! That’s when the magic began!

He went to the office and picked up his acoustic guitar and started playing flamenco songs one after the other. He is an excellent guitar player. The French helper, Orione, is finishing her 2-week work stint at the inn today and tomorrow she is going away. So Jean invited her to rest a bit from cleaning the dining room before starting to wash the dishes and join us for some wine. The Calvados was by now a fond memory. She is also fluent in English and Spanish and said she knows German as well, has a German boyfriend, is from the North of France and is studying business in college.

Jean continued playing Flamenco on the guitar. Delio asked Orione if she knew how to sing, and she said she would sing a few folk songs Jean did not know any of the songs she sung acapella, and proceeded to perform several French and Spanish folk songs with a beautiful and clear voice. She finished her performance with an amazing rendition of Stand by Me. After that nothing more could be said or done, it was a fantastic cap to a great evening. We went to our room to sleep in our traditional Japanese rooms, on futons spread over tatami floors.

This was truly a Travel Magic Moment. When you travel to new places and are open to the unexpected, you sometimes find surprising things or encounter interesting people. These are truly that memorable, unforgettable moments. So who knew that deep in the mountain range of the Kii peninsula, we would find a Japanese innkeeper fluent in English and with an excellent command of the Spanish language? That he is an excellent flamenco guitar player? That after dinner we would spend wonderful moments listening to him playing flamenco songs while sipping an excellent Calvados? Who knew we would be joined by an young French college student finishing her 2-weeks stint helping in this organic inn in exchange for room and board, who is also fluent in Spanish and English? And that she has a beautiful clear singing voice and would sing folk songs in French and Spanish? Travel is finding the unexpected.

88 Temple Shikoku Pilgrimage - Day 9

Day 9 - Sunday, 2016-04-10

Takamatsu / Tokushima

Today is our last hiking day. we are walking from temple 87 to temple 88, the last temple in the 88 temple circuit. We will stop and visit the Henro Museum along the way.

After being dropped at the trailhead with our purchased lunch in our backpacks we started or hike to temple 87 (Nagao-ji).

Temple 87 main gate:



Bowing at the gate to the temple:



Temple 87 main hall:

After visiting temple 87 we walked through streets in the outskirts of the town, on a flat terrain for about 4.5 Km until we reached the Henro Museum (Maeyama Ohenro Koryu Salon) at the edge of town, at the foot of the steep mountain range we have to cross to reach temple 88, the final temple. The museum was small but interesting  It filled some holes in our knowledge of the pilgrimages history.

After the visit came a decision point: walk or  ride?  The remaining 8Km were going to be challenging, with some ups and downs and culminating with a net ascent of 850m to summit the mountain, followed by a precipitous descent of 300m on the other side of the mountain to reach temple 88. Two of our group decided to take the bus to temple 88 and wait for us there, the rest decided to walk.

As we were beginning the ascent, we passed a farmer’s house with 2 little girls playing outside, one looked to be 7-8 years old and the other about 5, they waved and shouted hello to us and we answered their greetings. A few minutes later, after we had already left the road and started up the trail, the 2 girls came up, running and breathless to hand us cookies as an osetai!



We passed a small recently planted rice field with an elderly farmer tending the field. All the farmers I have seen on this hike were elderly, I guess the younger generation prefers to work and live in the cities.



And the climbing continues...



One of the several breaks from the steep hike:



This trail marker was ominous and inauspicious. It was really going to be a steep ascent!



We had to scramble on all fours!



Finally, breathlessly, we reached the top, where it was a bit hazy but beautiful.



Small Shinto shrine at the top of the mountain, the abode of the mountain god.




Going down was also steep, it consisted of steps made with logs all the way to the temple. Uneven steps, some small others large., My thighs were burning, my legs were cooked noodles by the time I reached the temple 88 , Okubo-ji.
These pilgrims came by bus:



Main gate:



Lighting incense:



Chanting the Heart Sutra:

I lingered a bit at the main hall, listening to the various groups chanting the sutras, taking in the atmosphere of the place. Our trek is over.

I am glad I came. I enjoyed the beautiful rugged scenery, the alluring simplicity of the wooden-built temples, the Buddhist rituals and the company of my fellow hikers.

Before starting this pilgrimage I did not quite know what to expect, I had some of the usual fears people have about going to foreign places with quite different culture of theirs - the food, language barriers, local protocols, etc. The food was varied and excellent, I experienced Japanese food quite different from what is found in the typical Japanese restaurant in the USA. The language barrier left me feeling that I missed out on what for me is one of the best experiences of a pilgrimage, the interaction with fellow pilgrims to learn about their motivations and aspirations and for the camaraderie. As far as the local customs, I am sure I raised many eyebrows when I unwittingly  broke many of the uncountable rules and protocols that are second nature to the Japanese people. But I felt welcome and was helped many times by locals,. Even when communication was a challenge, they tried to help.

Did I feel any spiritual awakening or experience? No, but I did not come here for spiritual insight, I came open minded, but not in search for answers. However, I was always in awe when visiting the temples like when visiting the churches on the Camino de Compostela. Not so much for the buildings, beautiful as they may be, but for the faith and hopes of millions of pilgrims that came before me. You couldn't help but feel their presence. Would I came back to finish hiking to the remaining temples of the 88 Temple circuit? I do not think so. Would I came back to Japan? I certainly hope so. Would I recommend this pilgrimage? Definitely yes.

88 Temple Shikoku Pilgrimage - Day 8

Day 8 - Saturday, 2016-04-09

Matsuyama / Takamatsu

We left the hotel by bus at 8 AM and drove to the foothills to start our hike, stopping on the way at a convenience store to buy lunch. I have become very predictable, once again buying a mix green salad, a rice cake (a ball of rice filled with a cooked fish, today’s is salmon) and a banana or an apple.

We started walking at 9:30, climbing a very steep hill, going up 800 meters in 2.2 Km. It took us ninety minutes to reach the first temple, temple 60. It was a challenging and strenuous , but beautiful wooded trail, with a cascading mountain creek.









We finally reached temple 60 (Yokomine-ji) where we met a group of school children on an excursion to visit the temple:







From there we continued on the other side of the mountain, mostly downhill on an easier slope. We went down about 1,200m in 10 Km to reach temple 61 (Kouon-ji). Temple 61, originally from the 6th century, is completely different from all the others. It was rebuilt in concrete 40 years ago after having being rebuilt many times previously  after fires. I didn’t like it very much, hence no pictures.
Father and son visiting the temple 61:

88 Temple Shikoku Pilgrimage - Day 7

Day 7 - Friday, 2016-04-08

Matsuyama

We boarded the bus at 8:30 right after breakfast and rode an hour to reach the trailhead, including the time to buy lunch at a convenience store.

Today we visited two mountain temples, temples 44 and 46. It was a challenging hike with steep segments going through forests,  including some patches of ancient tree groves  Just a few remain in the island. The scenery was stunningly beautiful!

The weather cooperated. It was overcast in the morning and gradually cleared, but some stretches of the trail was rather muddy because of yesterday's heavy rain. My hiking shoes were supposed to be waterproof, but yesterday I found out they are not, my feet got thoroughly wet and the shoes did not dry overnight. Today  I am walking in wet shoes.

We crossed a walking henro doing the pilgrimage in reverse order, many pilgrims do this on even years, as was he:



The first 4 miles of the hike were tough, we were constantly going up and down steep mountains until we reached temple 44 (Daiho-ji):









After visiting temple 44 we took a break for lunch. On our way to the next temple we stumbled upon an old Japanese woman foraging by the side of the road. I truly wished I could speak Japanese to learn what she was doing.

After lunch we had one difficult ascent and then it turned into a beautiful hike on the ridge of the mountain range.

These tablets hanging off tree branches contain encouraging messages to pilgrims.







The easy hike along the undulating ridges continued until we started our descent to the second mountain temple (temple 45, Iwaya-ji) we are visiting today.



This is the gate to the temple to the temple grounds when coming down the mountain, note the massive, ancient cedar tree.



The other side of the gate:



Pilgrim praying:



Temple 45 bell. Oh, what a magnificent sound it made when rung!



There is a massive, almost vertical cliff on one side of the temple grounds, with caves dug out in it’s face that are used by monks for meditation.They use ropes or step ladders to reach the caves. There is a small chapel dug out deep at the base of the mountain, where I took the picture below:



More temple Jizo statues:



Temple 45, Iwaya Jizo, is for me one of the most beautiful ones that I have visited, it was definitely worth the hike to it.

88 Temple Shikoku Pilgrimage - Day 6

Day 6 - Thursday, 2016-04-07

Iya Valley / Matsuyama

We woke up to a rainy day. Breakfast was at 7:30 and typical Japanese food. Got on the bus immediately afterwards  and drove almost 3 hours  to the the first temple of the day. We are back on the pilgrimage trail.

We are visiting temples 46 to 51, they are all in the outskirts of the Matsuyama city, one of the largest of the island, so it will be mostly flat and walking along suburban roads and streets. It rained all day long, sometimes just a drizzle, other times it poured. But it was not too bad, the visit to six temples made it interesting.

Below is a Jizo statue at Temple 46 (Joruru-ji). I am always fascinated by these statues, found in all Buddhist temples I have seen in Japan, I am intrigued by the reverence of the faithful in providing the statues with a  knitted cap and a bib to keep the deity protector of children, Jizo, warm.



Pilgrims performing the prescribed rituals at temple 46:







Temple 47 (Yasaka-ji):













Our group waits in the rain to cross the street. There was no traffic, but no one jaywalks in Japan:




Temple 48 (Sairin-ji):






Temple 49 (Jodo-ji):



Fully decked out pilgrim group guide at temple 49:



Pilgrim lighting incense sticks at temple 49:



We had to do a dash to the last Temple, temple 51, to reach it before 5 PM when the office that stamps the pilgrim's book closes. We barely made it.

Wooden tablets inscribed with the wishes of faithful asking for grace (Temple 51, Ishete-ji):



Delio and Erico, wet but still in good spirits at the end of the day, at Temple 51:



We were bused to downtown Matsuyama.  We are staying in a typical drab, uninteresting business hotel, smack in the commercial center of the town. Efficient, clean, confortable, but no character.

88 Temple Shikoku Pilgrimage - Day 5

Day 5 - Wednesday, 2016-04-06

Iya Valley

After a good traditional Japanese breakfast we boarded our bus carrying a bento box of food prepared by the hotel for our lunch. Today we are not walking the pilgrimage trail, we are going to a nature preserve about 2 hours away by bus and we are going to hike a pair of steep mountains. Two members of our group decided to take a rest day, one was the oldest member of our group (in her eighties) and the other was the youngest member, resting his blister ravaged feet.

The bus took us to the trailhead at about 1,200m altitude. We have to climb 755 meters (about 2,500 feet) to the top of Tsurugi-san, one of Shikoku’s sacred mountains and the island’s second highest.

This sign at the trailhead warned us to what awaited us:



And the climbing begins:



We huffed and puffed our way to the top of the mountain, it took us 2 hrs to get there and we felt a celebratory picture was in order:

Delio and Erico at the mountain top.

The area circled by the rope in the picture above demarcates the very top of the mountain and the abode of the mountain deity.

We had our lunch at the mountaintop and hiked to the summit of Jirogyu mountain, a bit lower than this one, but still the third highest in the island, about 6Km away.

Ahead,the summit of the Jirogyu mountain:



And in the background is the summit from which we came.



Up we go:




We made it:





Group picture (minus three):



And now we head back to the trailhead and the bus:

On the way to the hotel we stopped at a place in a deep valley with a couple of vine rope bridges with wooden slats to cross the river to the other side..The bridges are called  Okuiya Kazurabash and have been built and rebuilt in this spot for centuries. It was an interesting experience crossing the swaying bridge above the river and rocks below!

Bridge detail:

There are two bridges almost side by side, the higher one is nicked - named the “man’s bridge”:

And the lower one is the “woman’s bridge” because being lower, it less scary:

We arrived back at the hotel at the Iya Valley and we dashed to the onsen to clean up and to soak up our tired muscles in the soothing hot water before the 7 PM dinner. Dinner was again a multi-course affair of typical Japanese. Food with many different colors, textures, flavors and cooking methods. Most of the dishes were quite delicious, but some were a bit foreign to me - a bit gooey or with artificial looking colors.

88 Temple Shikoku Pilgrimage - Day 4

Day 4 - Tuesday, 2016-04-05

Cape Muroto / Iya Valley

Woke up at 5 AM to watch the sunrise, this hotel and the cape we are in are known for the spectacular sunrises, I could not miss this opportunity to see the sunrise in the land of the Rising Sun. 

However, it was way overcast, could not see the sun rise from the ocean, when I first saw a glimpse of it it was already a few degrees above the horizon. but took a few pictures anyway.

Sunrise from the Land of the Rising Sun:



After a fantastic multi-course gourmet breakfast we walked along a path along this rocky shore for about 45 minutes to the caves where Kobo Daishi meditated for 2 years after his return from China. He went to meditate until he reached enlightenment.

Along the way we saw the another reminder that this area is prone to tsunamis:

Kobo Daishi’s statue:

This is the cave where legend says Kobo Daishi lived while meditating until he reached Enlightenment:

After visiting the cave and we hopped on the bus for a one hour drive to the trailhead for our 2 hour hike trek to Temple 24 (Hotsumisaki-ji).

Hiking up to Temple 24 (Hotsumisaki-ji):

Gate to Temple 24 (Hotsumisaki-ji):

Temple 24 (Hotsumisaki-ji) pagoda style hall:

Temple 24 (Hotsumisaki-ji) main hall:

A red Buddha statue is sometimes found at the temples, if you are injured or feel pain if you pray and touch the statue at the injured/painful body part, you will be healed:

Temple 24 (Hotsumisaki-ji) has one of the more colorful altars:

Pilgrims lighting incense at Temple 24 (Hotsumisaki-ji):

Pilgrims praying at Temple 24 (Hotsumisaki-ji):

Monk doing calligraphy on my pilgrims book at Temple 24 (Hotsumisaki-ji):

Temple 24 (Hotsumisaki-ji) bell:

From Temple 24 we were picked up by our bus and driven a few miles to the base of a mountain to start our long hike to mountain Temple 27 (Konomine-ji), stopping to buy lunch along the way. I got a salad and a piece of cooked salmon wrapped in rice and seaweed.

We started our climb at noon, walked for about one hour before we stopped for lunch. Two hours later we arrived at the Temple 27 (Konomine-ji) after an 1800 feet ascent through a beautiful wooded area.

A walk in the woods:

Two tired pilgrims on arrival at Temple 27 (Konomine-ji):

Zen style garden at Temple 27 (Konomine-ji):

Main hall, Temple 27 (Konomine-ji):

After visiting the temple we hiked down for about half an hour to meet our bus. The final stretch of the road to reach Temple 27 was so narrow and winding the bus could not come up to meet us..

It took us 2 hours by bus to reach our new hotel, a traditional Japanese hotel (ryokan) in the higher mountains in the center of the island at the Iya Valley. The hotel has onsen, hot springs baths, but we arrived at 1800 and the dinner was set for 1900, so we just dropped the bags in the room and headed straight to the onsen for get clean and to soak a bit on the hot pools before dinner.

Two tired pilgrims dressed in yukatas say thanks for the dinner to come: