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...
My status as of today: the o-Henro walk is coming rapidly to an end: 5 temples remain to be visited, 2 days to reach temple 88 (end of o-Henro trail), 4 days to be back at temple T1 (where the journey started). Today is the first time that I am not walking on the o-Henro trail at all. It is raining the whole day, sometimes more sometimes less. Certainly it is not a good walking day. I strolled around the town, which I think has the most modern center of all Shikoku cities. The castle of Tokushima is less impressive compared to the other ones I have seen before. This is also due to the fact, that many views are „destroyed“ by higher city buildings at the skyline. Despite of that it is a nice and quite park-like space in the center of a big town. Tokushima castle garden High buildings around the castle grounds „destroy“ the picture Tokushima castle grounds Tokushima castle entrance door Tokushima castle tower
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….
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