I woke up extra early – 4:45am to be exact. While I knew it wouldn’t take me all day to get to Yokomineji and back, the problem, once again, was rain. The weather forecast predicted the rain to start up again around 10am and I hoped to at least be at the temple or almost at it by then.
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Once more, I woke to the sound of rain. I peeked out my little square of a window and, sure enough, the rain was coming down steadily.
Today was the day I was to tackle Yokomineji, Temple 60, and said to be the most difficult temple on the trail. With the rain, though, I wasn’t too sure about doing it. In Matsuyama, Yoshi, the young henro going in reverse order, had suggested doing the nearby temples 61-64 first if it was raining when I was due to reach Yokomineji, so I considered it as I got up and ready for the day. After taking a day off yesterday, it was difficult to find the mental strength to get up early. I technically didn’t really have to get up early as the distance I had to cover today was not very far, but it still felt wrong starting a day of walking late in the morning. Fortunately, one of my roommates was up earlier than I was, so I suppose she inadvertently encouraged me to also get up early. And with great effort, I did.
For the first time a while, I slept in…well, slept in until about 8:30, which to me, is sleeping in. My two other roommates were up earlier and packed up their things and checked out. I took my time waking up, waited til they left, and then got up and ready myself.
I didn’t end up leaving until about 9:30am. Despite the extra sleep, I felt a bit sluggish. I made my way to Imabari Station, which was practically next door, and went into the bakery/café there. I picked out a variety of pastries and ordered some milk tea, then sat down and enjoyed. I felt happy and relaxed, having nowhere in particular to go and delicious bread in my stomach. Again, any change from the traditional rice, fish, and soup was a welcome change. I was thankful that my other roommates were also starting early. That way, I didn’t feel guilty when I had to get ready for the day at 6am. I left an osamefuda and some candy for the hostel staff.
I was out by 6:45am but had to take the streetcar back to Matsuyama Station, then catch a train heading in the direction of Imabari. I had a long debate with myself about where to get off. My original plan had been to take the train almost all the way to Imabari, but I had realized that this was probably the only section of the trail that went by the Seto Inland Sea coast and I wanted to walk a bit of it at least. I was sorely tempted to sleep in, seeing as I only had about 12 km and two temples to cover, but I forced myself up and awake and was out by 7:15am. The hostel was having a hanami picnic near Ishiteji at noon and I wanted to join them, at least for a little bit. Hanami, for those who don’t know, is cherry blossom viewing, where people have picnics under the cherry blossoms. Also, I figured it would be good for me to keep the same sleeping patterns – early morning starts and early bedtimes.
Because my knee hadn’t been particularly happy with the mountain slopes yesterday, I decided to take the bus down to the edge of Matsuyama City, close to Temple 46. From there, it was flat terrain so I hoped my knee would be happy with that.
I ate breakfast with the female henro from the previous night but the male henro was nowhere to be seen. I guessed he had left earlier. I guessed some henro started off some days very early, sometimes as early as 5 or 6am. In any case, we chatted some more and I wished her luck with getting to Temple 45. I woke up multiple times throughout the night. It sounded like one of the other guests was having stomach problems and woke up every now and again to vomit. Old Japanese buildings being the way they are, sound travels very easily, so I heard everything, unfortunately. It was definitely not my most pleasant night.
I woke up on and off throughout the night, so when it was time to get up, it was a bit of a struggle. I wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep until the afternoon. However, breakfast was at 6:30 and I had a long day to look forward to.
Breakfast was another feast and I could only eat about half of it. My appetite is never the greatest in the early morning. Hideki was there, too, and we exchanged osamefuda with our mailing addresses on them. He had asked for mine so he could send me pictures he took after the pilgrimage. After breakfast, the owner took us to the meeting hall connected to the inn, where he had pictures posted of some sort of summer festival (in May, I think?) where participants go down the river on connected rafts. After a little while, though, his wife must have told him to let us go, because then we settled our bills and were out around 7:20am – a little late, but we had more than enough time to make it to Temple 44 before it closed at 5pm. Again, I woke up before my alarm after waking up once in the night. I found it difficult to get good sleep while on the pilgrimage. I am always afraid of accidentally sleeping in, especially since I’m not a morning person. Henro wake up early and go to bed early in order to maximize travel time, which is the opposite of my natural tendencies.
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About
My name is Marianne and this is my journal about that time I decided to complete the 88 Temple Shikoku Pilgrimage. It was both the most difficult thing I've ever done and the most amazing thing I've ever done. It was truly an experience of a lifetime. Archives
August 2017
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