All of a sudden the dirt trail ended and were found outselves at the bottom of a flight of stone stairs. At the top, right in the center of the stairs, we could see a statue and a huge tree. Since there was no other way to go then up, we climbed the stairs to investigate.
Ian on the stairs with the statue and the tree coming into better view.
The statue was, of course of Kukai, or as known by his after-death Buddhist name, Kobo Daishi.
As we crossed the peak at the statue and started down the other side of the mountain, we discovered a row of little statues and a sign (at the right) stating that we were at IpponSugi.
I turned and looked back, discovering this very pleasing view of the tree and statue as well as a small building housing some sort of statue or relic.
Just a bit further down the other side, we found this row of meditating Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.We would now drop about 300 meters to a valley floor and then climb another 300 meters toward the top of the next peak. Somewhere just before the top we would find Temple #12 where we had reservations for the night. As far as I was concerned, the temple could not arrive too soon as we had already been climbing for more than five hours.
Konnichiwa! It looks like I'm a few days/temples ahead of you! I'm doing ikkoku-mairi in Tokushima-ken this week while on my sabbatical, just completed juunanaban o-tera (temple 17) yesterday and am back in Tokushima-shi, having a rest day, doing laundry, etc. I'll be doing 18 and 19 tomorrow, staying at the Minshuku Kanekoya, then 20 and 21 on Saturday, staying at the Washino Sato Hoteru, and then finishing up with 22 and 23 on Sunday. I'll spend the night here in Tokushima-shi again, and then return by ferry to Wakayama and then catch a train to Nambu to return to Tokyo from Shin-Osaka. I've been adding information on my own web site, please take a look, and thanks for sharing your experiences!
ReplyDeleteKi o tsukete, ganbatte kudasai!
Lefty's site is very good and contains a lot more information on the temples and what is actually done at each. If you are at all interested in this aspect of the Henro Pilgrimage, I highly recommend that you take a look.
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