I ended my post yesterday mentioning I would be walking in rain today. Well apart from 3 minutes drizzle, it was a pleasant walk in dry weather. It has however rained off and on since I arrived in Koyasan at 13.30, but not to heavily. Last time I was here it absolutely poured, so this is an improvement.
I was up at 6.30, breakfast at 7.00, where I hsd to grill my own fish – try eating grilled fish with chopsticks, and on the hotel bus 8.00 to take me to where todays walk started. This would be my fourth and final day on the Kohechi route. I met the French man from yesterday, he had slept in his tent under a roof to keep dry – it had poured down. He told me that he had been driven by the police to the nearest hotel, but he was not willing to pay for the night, so the police drove him back to the village and then called the owner to ask if it was OK for him to put up his tent under the roof. How he managed all that without English or Japanese, I have no idea.
There were two climbs of ca. 400 m today, one at the beginning and one 6 km before Koyasan. Apart from the two climbs, it was a fairly easy day, quite a bit on roads.
I met the Estonian group again, passed them when they were taking a break, but then I took a detour as I missed a sign. So I caught up with them again whilst they ate lunch, and met them again as they are staying at the same temple as I am – a coincidence, as there are 52 of the 112 Temples that offer accomodation. They are very nice group of people, and I will miss then, not least for knowing they were behind me if anything happened.
There were some beautiful views on the trip today and the forrest was also greener. I walked a total of 22 km due to the detour, 870 m in ascent and 820 m in descent. As there isn’t much more to say I’ll add some pictures.
The first sign on the Kohechi route – for me me last. I dropped my bag at the temple, but wasn’t allowed to use the bathroom to wash myself.
I left to go to the Okunoin cemetery with its over 200.000 stones and monuments. It really is a fantastic place, where one could take 100’s of pictures.
It is also here that Kobe Daishi is in eternal meditation, so I paid my respects, again thanking him for looking after me on Shikoku last year. I also visited the magnificent lantern hall with over 10.000 lanterns.
I walked back towards the temple and was considering eating my lunch box. But I couldn’t face more rice and decided to keep it for tomorrow. Instead I bought noodles in curry soup and a beer.
I hadn’t realised that it was so late, already 16.00 by the time I had finished. At check in at the temple, I was told that dinner was at 17.00 – I’d just eaten! They agreed to push it to 17.30. Dinner was served in the room, which was good that I didn’t need to show off how bad I am at sitting on the floor, but sad that one doesn’t get the chance to meet the other residents. A lot of tofu, rice and vegetables, as nothing derived from animals is served.
After dinner I went back to the cemetry, which has a different feel in the dark and is lit up through 100’s if not a 1000 lanterns.
I ended up walking 33 kms, 22 km completing the Kohechi route, and 11 more sightseeing at Okunoin. Tomorrow I pkan to take the 24 km Choishi-michi route down from Koyasan. But again rain is predicted, so I haven’t decided.