Ian and I were at a party the other night and had a chance to do some more planning for our trip. It is still tentative but firmer than just a few days ago.
Our current plans have us leaving Sendai on the shinkansen (usually called the bullet train in English) on February 16 and traveling to Osaka. We have not decided whether to stay in Osaka (cheaper) or go on to Koyasan (Mt. Koya) and stay there (expensive but probably more interesting). In any case we will spend the 17th exploring the temples on Koyasan and reporting to Kukai (known posthumously as Kobo Daishi) that we are going to do the Henro Pilgrimage. I have a pamphlet from Koyasan that suggests that the standard tour of the temples will take at least seven hours. On the 18th we will travel from Osaka to Shikoku by highway bus, buy our Henro outfit, and visit a few of the temples. How many depends on the timing. We will stay overnight in a minshuku (traditional Japanese hotel) and begin the trip in earnest (remember the Importance of Being Earnest) the following day.
As I said before, this year we plan to spend 25 days on the road, and maybe an extra day at the end to reach the train line that we can take to Okayama and the shinkansen.
About Me
- Charles
- Nakagawa-machi, Chikush-gun, Fukuoka-ken, Japan
- I have lived in Japan since 1976 and now consider it to be my permanent home. I have a very varied background having studied engineering, Japanese and East Asian studies, and education at the university level. I spent ten years in the Army where my job involved Area Studies, mostly in East Asia. When I started to teach in Japan, it was at a post high school level and, after I completed a PhD in education, I moved to a university where I become a full professor. After retiring, I taught part-time but am now completely retired and spend my enjoying myself. I am reasonably fluent in Japanese and at present all of my friends are elderly Japanese.
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