Day 2: Temples 2 - 6

I felt like a real pilgrim today. We started at 0630 with a nice breakfast. The foil wrapped item on the right are rice balls for lunch that they gave us.

Temple #2, Gokurakuji, was very peaceful in a wooded area.

At temple #3, Konsenji, there was a tour group that chanted the Sutras which was very calming. At each temple you are supposed to chant or read various Sutras. I meditate and pray as I don't know the Sutras.

After Konsenji we we stopped by a hardware store, in the background, and found a package of long shoelaces I could use to fix up the hat straps. I fixed the hats while Sawako bought bread at a nearby bakery.

Temple #4, Dainichiji was away from town in the hills so we got to walk a trail for a bit, instead of the road.

At Dainichiji, we met a small boy who practiced his English on us. I gave him a name slip for his efforts, in return his grandmother gave me a hand made bag.

Just after leaving Dainichiji, we passed a lady gardening. She runs a local cafe that was closed, but invited us in for coffee anyway. Ended up with tea, coffee, sweet cake, hard egg, and fruit.

The 5th temple, Jizoji, was a short walk and had a nice statue of Kobo Daishi.

The process at each temple is to wash your hands, add the date and your wish to two name slips, go to the main hall, light a candle and incense, put a name slip in the box, offer a 10 yen coin, and recite the Sutras. Repeat with the Daishi hall. Then you go to the office and get your stamp book stamped and written in.

The 6th temple, Anrakuji, included a nice place to stay.

After a great dinner, we attended a service honoring our ancestors as they're the reason we are here today. The service included lighting candles in cups and having them float in a indoor stream. Very moving no matter what you believe.

I am starting to recognize a few other pilgrims. Seems like we see 2- 3 an hour while walking and more at a temple. Only 5% try to walk the route. Most take cars or bus tours as most folks can't take 50 days off. 

We walked 18.6km today.  You can see a map of my tracks here (you may have to refresh the page after a minute to get it to show).  If you have Google Earth, it is faster to download a Google Earth file of my adventure from here.