Day 13 -- Rebuilding. Stronger. Faste

Total distance: 27 km, flat

There are four prefectures in Shikoku. In the order that I’m walking through them, they’re Tokushima, Kōchi, Ehime, and Kagawa. The guide book I’m using describes these four prefectures, in order, as:

1. Tokushima — Hosshin dōjō (発心道場) “Place of Spiritual Awakening"
2. Kōchi — Shugyō dōjō (修行道場) “Place of Ascetic Training"
3. Ehime — Bodai dōjō (菩提道場) “Place of Enlightenment"
4. Kagawa — Nehan dōjō (涅槃道場) “Place of Nirvana"

DINOSAURS

I feel like so far, the first two (awakening and training) have been pretty spot-on how I feel physically from this journey. Tokushima was kinda a kick in the face in terms of how much this walk would punish my body. Now that I’m just about halfway done with Kōchi, I can feel myself getting stronger and able to walk longer distances in shorter periods of time. Maybe by the time I hit Ehime I’ll hit my stride and start doing 30k+ days. For the time being, though, I feel pretty good. As long as there are no huge mountains. Those still kick my ass.

I guess we’ll see in a few days. The road to temple #37 seems pretty steep.

Temple 28 大日寺 Dainichiji (? km)

The outskirts.

This walk was basically a continuation of the walk from yesterday. Much of it was along a major highway, but it did veer off into rice fields at points. The way the three temples I visited today are laid out, they’re kinda on the outskirts of Kōchi City (which is huge, by the way). It’s really interesting to see the combination of huge rice fields in front of a backdrop of skyscrapers. This pilgrimage really takes you to different places.

Temple 29 国分寺 Kokubunji (? km)

This walk was pretty much 100% rice fields. There were lots of people working and planting today. I guess it’s the season to do that now? I actually know nothing about rice.

Temple 30 善楽寺 Zenrakuji (? km)

The city.

I wasn’t originally planning to go to this one today, since the place I’m staying is slightly (like, three minutes walking) before it. But, for some reason, when I arrived at the place I’m staying, no one was there, so I went to the temple and came back. Tomorrow I’ll start with an easy peazy 6k walk to temple 31.

The place I’m staying in now is… weird. Apparently it’s just this guy who owns a bunch of studio apartments in the area, has people show up at one central location, and then drives them out to the apartments to stay the night. This is certainly the first time I’ve seen this style of place. It is nice having my own bathroom and whatnot, but it feels a little lonely. Oh well.

Anyway, I rambled a bunch. Long story short: foot feeling better, went to three temples, this minshuku is weird. Bed time.