Steps: 34.107 (29,3km)
Temples: 9 + 10 + 11
Today we started to realize why we haven’t seen that many other henrō on the road so far – we have simply been sleeping in too late 😅 But when we got up at 6.30 today and headed out the door around 8 (as the last ones, mind you) we spent the day bumping into the same little group of henrōs everywhere we went.
The first place was temple 9, a quant little temple with a deity focused on healing foot injuries which seemed like destiny after yesterdays pain parade. So in order to keep the good luck going I bought a little pair of sandals for my walking stick. Loe and behold the pain has now moved to the front of my ankle which feels fantastic in comparison to be honest, so I couldn’t be more pleased with my new lucky charm 🥰
After a pre-packed breakfast at tempke 9, it was onwards to temple 10, where all the reps we have done on the staircase up to our apartment over the last months really started to pay off (~45 floors worth of steps to the top). However it’s still only a small taste of what’s to come tomorrow where will climb our first mountain to get to temple 12 😱
After temple 10 we had lunch at the advertised “henro oasis”, where we were stopped outside by a sweet lady offering us our very first “osettai”. Osettai are little presents given to henrō to show good will and wish them well on their way. It is as much a religious practice for the giver as the receiver and as such you are meant to accept them only with sincere thanks (and perhaps a little osamefuda) in return. This one turned out to be freshly steamed buns filled with red bean paste – too many for us to devour ourselves, but luckily our other henrō companions had also just sat down for lunch so we could share with them.
What goes up must come down, and after lunch, we started descending into the valley of the Yoshino river, where we had been advised by many (!) that the bridge on route was closed for construction so we had to take a detour to cross the larger Awa-chuō bridge. It sounded very serious, but as we got to the bridge, we found it closed only by a little road sign and as well to people walking across it from the other side.
On the way to Awa-chuō bridge we were stopped by yet another lovely local who offered us a ride (we gracefully refused) as well as his phone number and life story, not caring that we didn’t understand a word he was saying 🥲
This evening we are staying at a business hotel in town. We have bought snacks and paid our respects at temple 11, so we’re ready to start our long hike up and down the mountain early tomorrow morning.
