Day 2 started where day 1 had ended - at temple no.3. Fortunately, I had had time to see the temple and enjoy its peaceful atmosphere the evening before, because this morning, a bus arrived simultaneously with me and 50 middle aged Japanese ladies poured into the temple, plugging everything.
Stone of Benkei
The legend says that Benkei (the sidekick of Japan's most famous Yoshitsune and renowned for his unsurpassed strength) came to the temple and lifted this stone. I didn't want to interfere with historic persons so I didn't lift it myself...
I went on to temple no.4 and for the first time the path left the village and the rice fields and entered the woods, even though it was not for long (First some more pictures of the quite villages...).
The temples on this pilgrimage are of course determined, but nevertheless there are other temples and shrines on the way worth visiting. E.g. on the way to between temple no.3 and 4 on a place really off the road, there was a really quite, small temple, and the monk there was serving hot coffee or tea to everybody who stopped by. On stops like this, it's of course a good chance to start conversation with those also walking the same way (something that's not so easy if your doing a mainstream tourism thing...) Also the monk of this temple served free coffee and tee to everybody passing by. :)
Temple no 4
Rice
More temples and shrines - just scroll down...
No.8
At temple no.5 there was a map that showed the way to temple no.6 and it looked pretty close. In reality, it wasn't close at all and you know that expectations have a major influence on how you experience things, so the way to temple no.6 seemed endless.
No.5
Shire on the way
No.7 (remember that car!)
No.9
At temple no.5 there was a map that showed the way to temple no.6 and it looked pretty close. In reality, it wasn't close at all and you know that expectations have a major influence on how you experience things, so the way to temple no.6 seemed endless.
Finally, I reached temple no.9 around 4 p.m., so as temples are closing at 5 p.m. I decided not to go to no.10 on this day. I have had the very tasty udon noodles the last evening and somen noddles for lunch, but now I was hungry for meat. My thoughts about if it's ok to eat meat on a buddhistic pilgrimage lasted only until I discovered a yakinikuya-san (restaurant for meat that you grill on your table), so I decided to call it a day and went there.
As it was early, I was the only customer. When I wanted to place my order, the lady who seemed to own the place showed up with a big plate full of meat and said "that's a pilgrimage gift, please eat!". Additionally, I got some beers, more meat, vegetables, rice, what ever. Another friend of her showed up so, lacking other customers, we sat on one table together chatting, eating, drinking. They asked if I already had a place to sleep and as I denied, the lady offered me to stay in an additional room they had. They also asked me if I were very tired, I said no so they invited some more friends - the additional room turned out to be a karaoke room so we had a karaoke-party for the next two hours. Not only was I the youngest person in the room, I also had the feeling that the second youngest person was double my age. What a fun evening... :)
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