Today’s plan was a 29km walk with no temples except for a stop at Toyakabashi which is bridge that Kobo Daishi was said to have slept under and is now sub-temple number 8 in the pilgrimage.
Looking back at the photos for this day, there are noticeably few and the simple reason for that was that it was too damn cold to take my gloves off in order to take a photo. The morning was super chill – close to zero degrees when I started out and walking along in the freezing cold there was a heavy frost on the ground and all the puddles were frozen over. This was not the sort of weather to be wearing a light turtle neck and a flimsy waterproof running jacket.
My first stop was a convenience store to buy some heat packs for my hands that were still freezing in the two pairs of gloves I was wearing. Then it was up and over a mountain pass for some amazing views.
Coming down I passed by Fudakakeji which is a good example of what happens to a temple if it’s not one of the chosen 88 on the pilgrimage and if there’s no money coming in to take care of it.
Apparently some locals come and cut the grass from time to time to stop it becoming too jungle-esque and the bell was removed some time ago as it was becoming dangerous, but it’s sad to see the statue of Kobo Daishi standing forlornly in the grounds.
The path took me along the river with a nice view of Ozu castle. Originally built in 1331, like most castles in Japan, it’s a reconstruction as almost all castles in Japan were razed during the Edo/Meiji periods.
I had planned to stop for lunch at Joyful near Toyokabashi. It’s one of those delightful “family restaurants” in Japan with a drink bar and cheap food. Just coming up to the restaurant I met my first reverse henro for this trip. Actually meeting other henro this time was a novelty and I always have so much respect for reverse henro as they are doing it tough by walking the path from temple 88 to 1. All of the paths and signage etc. are designed to work in one way and doing the reverse of that just ups the difficulty level so much more.
I got to Joyful and had to spend the first few minutes taking off layers and bits and pieces. The waitress was having a giggle at this weird foreigner doing the pilgrimage and I was very aware that I was the centre of attention for all the people in the restaurant. Fortunately it wasn’t too busy as it was past lunch time. I was actually running late as my leg was giving me grief and I couldn’t walk as fast as I wanted to.
For lunch I had the fried chicken with veggies set that came with rice, soup and pickles. I also took several trips to the drink bar for ALL the drinks of Calpis, Qoo orange and finally a couple of cups of cappuccino from the automatic coffee machine. It was delish and less than $10.
I wanted to stay a bit longer and rest my leg, but I knew I needed to get going. I was actually fortunate that I did because the stamp office at Toyokabashi was closing early and I almost missed out on getting my stamp.
The temple itself is very small and on the side of a busy highway. When you go to do your candles and incense and heart sutra, you get drowned out by the passing trucks.
Under the bridge was a cute little shrine
And people had sown some little futons to put on the statue of the sleeping Kobo Daishi.
It’s said that he spent the night hungry and cold under the bridge and the night felt as long as ten nights so that’s why it’s called Toyokabashi – literally “ten night bridge”.
My lodgings for the night were AZ Hotel Uchiko – another 8kms down the road so off I went.
The hotel had been refurbished and was clean. It was also across the road from a supermarket so perfect for getting dinner and breakfast supplies. I arrived and washed my clothes and then started the nightly episode of the clothes-drying olympics – hanging clothes everywhere I could and pumping up the aircon heater in the room to try and dry the clothes overnight.
So you end up with this
This was dinner
Chicken salad with sesame dressing, a pickled plum rice ball, some burdock root and carrot and a strawberry daifuku (pounded rice with red bean paste inside) for dessert. This is like $5.
I loooove burdock and carrot. It’s simmered in soy sauce, dashi and sugar. Fibre content is off the charts and the chewy texture is just divine. It’s something I always have multiple times whenever I’m in Japan.
Here’s the inside of the daifuku
I remember having multiple conversations with M about whether I should continue or not because my leg was so bad. He told me that I shouldn’t aggravate my injury and that I should stop if I thought I needed to. I figured it was my quad since I couldn’t lift my leg. Getting dressed was such a challenge. I’d have to put my pantlegs on the ground and sort of step into them. I was taking panadol as I needed to get me through, but I didn’t have a lot so I was rationing them.
I really didn’t want to stop now that I started. I just needed to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other and leaning on my stick as much as I needed. Surely it will get better?
a subtle time 