Steps: 36.223 (31,8km)
Temples: 27
Today was supposed to be a short one – 15 easy kilometers along the coast from Nahari to Aki. That is until I realized a couple days ago that I’d missed a 12km, 500m elevation detour up to temple 27 – whoops innit?
So, another long one, but man temple 27 was worth the struggle. Such a picturesque temple with amazing views over the ocean and a beautiful well-kept garden.
There was even a small koi pond where I got to pet one of the fish 🥺🥰
Temple 27 is one of four “sekishoji“ (spiritual checkpoint temples) on the route. At sekishoji your spiritual motives are said to be examined by Kōbō Daishi in order to determine if you are worthy to continue the pilgrimage. I hope we passed the test, cause I’m really, really not ready to go home yet 🤞
At a convenience store parking lot on the way into Aki we were stopped by a motorcyclist giving us a generous osettai of 500¥ each. We got to talking and it turned out he was doing the pilgrimage on his motorbike, but that he had previously done it both in a car and on foot. He was super friendly and showed a great interest and concern in us, worrying that we might not get the same friendly reception as Japanese henrōs. We ensured him that we have been met with nothing but kindness everywhere we go.
When we asked to take a picture he insisted his own personal Kōbō Daishi should be in it too – a cute little teddy bear that had travelled with him all over the world.
For dinner we had our first okonomiyaki of the trip, an Osaka favorite from our last visit eight years ago. After dinner the nice owner gave me (and only me) a free ice cream for dessert and damn did he get his moneys worth, cause I practically squealed with happiness and smiled all the way up to my ears for half an hour afterwards. He must have known I needed it. Kōbō Daishis come in many shapes and sizes ❤️