Day 2 Some Final Comments

In going over my diary entry for the day, I found a few things that I do not have pictures of but will be of interest to at least some of you.

In the morning, before breakfast we went to the Shingon ceremony in the main hall. The hall was much more elaborate than the one at Temple #2. There were about 40 people there and, while the two priests chanted, the audience went one at a time and knelt in the center area. I passed on this because it is hard for me to get up off the floor. After the chanting was finished, the head priest gave a lecture about the history of the temple. He told us that about four hundred years ago the temple had burned and the only thing that was saved was a statue of Amida Buddha. When he finished talking, we heard a whirring sound and a metal panel behind the altar area rose. We were then allowed to go behind the altar and view the statue, but photos were not allowed. Amida was seated and was entirely dark blue in color. There were still obvious burn marks in various places on it. Otherwise there nothing in particular stood out.

During the day, my feet started to hurt and in the evening I discovered the first blisters. They were all on my left foot. I never did get more than a couple of very small blisters on my right foot, but from Day 2 onward my left foot gave me trouble. The reason for the asymetry is that, although most people's right foot is slightly larger than their left, mine are the other way around. Shoemakers know this and usually the right shoe in a pair will be slightly larger. This means that for me the left shoe is tighter than the right. I still have the dead skin from the blisters on the ball of my left foot and on my little toe. I also believe that I lost the toenail on my little toe but there is too much dead skin there to be absolutely sure. There may still be some nail in there someplace. If it is gone, I guess I can consider it to be Osettai for Kobo Daishi.

This was the only day that we ate lunch in a real restaurant. There were no convience stores so we could not get our usual daifuku or cake. We were getting resigned to the idea of not eating until evening when we crossed a main road and discovered a large udon (noodle) restaurant. Ian and I went in and ate. I had niku soba (buckwheat noodles with soup and meat) teishoku (a fixed meal that has the entre as well as other things). While we were having coffee, our first of the day, the girls from Saitama U who had interviewed us came into eat. We exchanged smiles, greetings and a few words before we started on our way again.

After visiting Temple #11, we walked a few kilometers into the nearest town to find the business hotel where we had made reservations for the night. We were pleasantly surprised to find that it was new and very cheap (less than 5000 yen, including breakfast). They also had free coffee in the dining area and it was available 24/7. I took pictures of the hotel but not on Day 2, so I will post the pictures on the day I took them.

We went out in the early evening to find supper but there were no restaurants close by. We finally found a family restaurant and ate there. After a so-so meal (exactly what you can expect in a family restaurant) we ordered coffee and desert. When we had finished, we ordered coffee and desert again. Actually we were both still hungry and considered a third round, but decided that we had had enough calories.

When we got back to the hotel, we stopped for more coffee. While we were sitting there, a young man came in and we started talking. He was amazing. He was studying for a Masters Degree in Physics at Nagoya U. He was also a triathalon athelete. He said that in less than a week he had to get back to Nagoya for the univerity's graduation ceremony, so he was trying to do as much of the Henro Pilgrimage as possible. He said that he had started at Temple #1 in the morning and had reached #11 by the early evening. He was planning on going from Temple #11 to #13 during the next day. He was going about three times as fast as Ian and I.

His plans were interesting. During the current portion of the Pilgrimage, he was going to do as much as he could, running much of the way. I should point out that he had a fairly large backpack. After graduation, he expected to go to work and not to have any free time again until he retired sometime in his 60s. His plan was to finish the Pilgrimage after retirement. We had heard that many people do the Pilgrimage in stages and with different portions at different times, but this was almost ridiculus.