The first day in Crete. Back in the beautiful town of Chania, which I saw the first time in 1967 when I was 10 years of age. With a group of Boy Scouts we were hiking 5 weeks across the island, which had little tourism at this point in time.
Koya-san Koya-san On November 28th I visited Mount Koya to formally finish the o-Henro pilgrimage. I had visited Koya-san a few times before. It is a spiritual location and also visually very appealing. On November 30th Christiane and I were invited by Ikuyo-san and Kenji-san to celebrate my successful finalization of the o-Henro pilgrimage at their house. Ikuyo and Kenji very very supportive during my journey for which I can not thank them enough. They gave to me a Daruma doll as a present which now stands in our house as one memory of an exciting trip to Japan Ikuyo and Kenji, big supporters of my journey Celebration at Ikuyo and Kenji's house I got a Daruma as a present Ikuyo-san prepared a wonderful buffet for all of us The Daruma doll is standing for good fortune. The eyebrows of the Daruma are formed by cranes and the beard by turtles. Both animals are representing longevity. Personal wishes are written in gold on the Daruma (e.g. accomplishing goals are written on the...
Today I took the bus up into the mountains to the remaining last temple T88, Okuboji. It was very cold up there (8 degrees Celsius) and I had to use for the first time my warm clothes. From the temple I walked down from the mountains to Awa city, not too far away from temple 10. Currently it is raining outside and it is expected to do so tomorrow as well, when my way will lead me back to T1. After I have reached T1 the journey is over. Today I walked 21 km (total: 1033km), all downwards, so altitude meters are negligible. Early morning view from hotel Clement in Takamatsu Shop closely before Temple 88 Walking up Okuboji (T88) Entering Okuboji Temple At Okuboji temple site A „dog transporter“ (not unusual in Japan) Walking down from the mountains (1) Walking down from the mountains (2) My sleeping room at…in….
Today is the first day after finishing the o-Henro pilgrimage trail. It feels strange to sit and write instead of walking. I was number 479 finishing the walk this year: Certificate of successfully finishing o-Henro by walking I also got a small certificate from the Tokushima tourist center, where only foreigners appear. Most of the foreigners apparently start in Tokushima. Here I was number 34. o-Henro certificate from the Tokushima tourist center About 1200 years ago, the monk Kukai = Kobo Daishi, the founder of the Shingon School of Buddhism, established the o-Henro pilgrimage for two major reasons which were “soul searching” = spirituality and the improvement of health. Kobo Daichi statues can be seen at many places during the trail. This picture below has been taken yesterday at temple T5 Jizoji. Kobo Daichi statue at Jizoji temple (T5) I am not a spiritual person and this has not changed in the last weeks. I am not a believer in any kind of religion, although Buddhism comes ...
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