Steps: 38.651 (31,1km)
Temples: 38
There is no one right way to do the Shikoku pilgrimage. Some walk, some cycle, some take buses or trains. Others drive or are driven around in busses or taxis.
For some it takes 45 days. For others, 45 years or a lifetime.
Most visit the temples in ascending order, from number 1 to 88. But you are definitely allowed skip some or shuffle the order.
On leap years, for example, it is customary to start at temple 88 and walk the pilgrimage in reverse, moving counter-clockwise around the island. However, this is only advice if you have walked it one or a few times clockwise first. Today we discovered why.
Staying in Tosashimizu we had the option of going either left (west) or right (east) around to the cape. We decided on west, but soon realized that most move the other way because all signage faced in the opposite direction, which made it quite difficult to navigate.
This ended up costing us a few extra kilometers, which would have been fine was it not for the fact that Jonas’ blisters seemed to be getting worse as we went along…
We reached temple 38 by noon. Our stay at the cape 8 years ago stands out clearly in both of our memories as a highlight of the trip, so it was quite special to be back, and see it in a new light.
Another upside of walking counter-clockwise? We got to give Aito-san and his dad an encouraging high-five as they came walking towards us in the opposite direction.
When we got home around 16.30 Jonas’s feet where really aching, and no wonder because his right pinky toe had basically transformed into one giant blister 😩
Thankfully, Sam, whom we met at a guesthouse about a week ago, taught us that you can order stuff from Japanese Amazon and have it delivered to any Lawson for easy pickup (if you’re reading along Sam, thank you!)
So now I have ordered Jonas a new pair of Lone Peaks that will arrive close to where we’re staying in two days, just in time for his birthday. Not the most fun gift, but one we both agreed he would surely come to cherish.