Day 38: Kumakōgen-T46
Today felt like work.
It started raining heavily last night; the island of Kyushu, a bit further south than Shikoku, has declared it the start of the rainy season already, about 3 weeks earlier than is usual. I don’t think we’re quite there yet in Shikoku, but it does feel like it’s coming. If anything, though, temperatures are still mild (think low 70s) through the next week or so. I’ve only got 17 more hiking days ahead of me; it seems like I probably won’t have any weather issues to deal with. But I digress: I woke up, had a better than average breakfast, and waited an hour and half or so for the rain to calm tf down so that I could start walking today. I had a chat with the innkeeper, who suggested I skip the first mountain pass over the day as it’s apparently in really bad shape & the rains probably would’ve made it worse (think mud, blowdowns, slippery bits, all that nonsense). That made sense to me; as much as I wanted to stay off the pavement, that wasn’t going to happen. So I headed off, fully geared up for rain, but it the rain had just stopped and it felt fresh and clean outside.
The alternative to the pass was to take a tunnel route instead. I’d passed by the E end of the tunnel the day before; it seemed reasonable - and if anything it’d mean I’d get to go to a convenience store and get something for my lunch today. Sold.
Of course, at the tunnel itself, I realized that uh nope, there are no sidewalks in this bad boy. Instead, there’s a box with reflective sashes in it & a button you can press that illuminates a sign warning drivers that there’s a pedestrian in the tunnel ahead. Eep. Well, no other alternative, really, so here goes nothing. Thankfully, traffic was light, so I made it through without any scary moments.
At the W end of the tunnel - i.e., in the next valley over - it was raining, but only moderately so. It was only a couple of k down to the town below; I popped in to the Lawson and bought a kouign-amann and a large caffe latte & the friendly staff said that I was welcome to sit in the adjacent bus station (basically closed as it was Saturday & the bus schedule was reduced), so I did. Mmm, warmth! An Aussie from Perth happened along; he’d just taken a bus up from Matsuyama and was hoping to do some hiking, but didn’t seem to have planned anything or even checked the weather, so I did what I could; I showed him the maps I had, suggested a couple of options, and I think he was then better set up for a day in the mountains. Then I bought my lunch - well, a pack of Calorie-Mate - and headed off.
The trail as I understood it was maybe 16 kilometers or so to Jōruri-ji, T46, but none of the guides I’d read gave an inkling of what it would actually be like. It turns out it was the most irritating kind of road walk for at least the first ten kilometers - and that’s the bit that felt like work, plodding along a gentle uphill slop for a couple of hours in the rain, avoiding traffic, and generally just, you know, thinking that there had to be better days ahead. Finally, traffic turned off onto a new expressway-style fast road to Matsuyama & then things got more interesting. The old road was incredibly underused; I saw two cars in about half an hour. It first went by an Eighties ski area turnoff that looked woefully decrepit; from there, pretty much nothing but abandoned buildings and garbage. Finally, it reached the pass dividing Kumakogen from Matsuyama, and the trail diverged from the road. Yay, finally a proper trail! It was still raining, but not badly; thankfully, the trail wasn’t especially slippery and it was a relatively painless descent down to the valley on the other side. I took my time - I really don’t want to slip and fall, thanks - and made it over without incident. As is often the case when it’s rainy here, there were tiny land crabs scuttling about - always amusing (to me, at least). A local elementary school had put up cute little signs in the trees urging pilgrims to keep going - the next temple is just around the corner! your wish will come true! - and then boom, one of those views that is the sort of thing you go hiking for, and by you I mean I.
I took my time and enjoyed that view - I always love the feeling of looking at someplace down low and far away, thinking yeah, I climbed up here. The islands offshore I found especially appealing; I don’t know if you could see the castle from here, but I suppose it’s down there somewhere too.
Eventually the trail turned into a tiny farm road; surprisingly, there were a dozen cars there trying to find parking as there was a funeral about to start at a small gravesite at the base of the valley. A bit further on there was a fine place to stop for a rest currently occupied by a Frenchman from Normandy; a homeowner had set up a bench with a phone charger, a water tap, and a toilet. Luxury! I stopped and chatted for a bit, packed away my rain gear as it’d finally stopped raining, and then kept going. Honestly, it was just going to be another few kilometers of road walking; I wanted it to be over with. And then sure enough, I found tonight’s lodging, which kind of feels like Buddhist summer camp to me (it’s three buildings constructed with wood from the holy mountain, Koyasan, in the rooms), complete with a pilgrimage supply shop, and checked in. From what I can tell, tonight’s guests appear to be me as well as a high school baseball team (there’s apparently a huge sports complex very close by, which is their backup business when pilgrims are few and far between). It’s literally across the street from T46, so after showering and getting all my gear charging and/or drying, I put on more respectable clothes, put on my pilgrim gear, and headed across the street.
This temple is known for a 1,000+ year old Chinese juniper that Kukai is said to have planted here; it’s over 20 meters tall and lends a wonderfully serene air to the place. Given that it was late on a Saturday afternoon and at the end of a rainy day, there was no one here (until eventually a bro wearing shorts and a ponytail showed up and left without doing much of anything, huh). As you can imagine, I took advantage of the opportunity to sit quietly and enjoy this place.
One of today’s recurring walking-thoughts is a simple one: I am not a spiritual person. I don’t feel anything magical or mystical in these places; I just enjoy the emptiness of them - there aren’t many spaces in this world where you can simply be by yourself & that aren’t natural, but built or constructed. I think I realize that (just like that teahouse in Ozu) what works for me about these temples on a good day is that marriage of nature of art (artifice, artificiality, you know) that can really click sometime; there are buildings that are so beautiful in places so charismatic that the overall effect is greater than its parts. So, nope, not gonna be a Buddhist any time soon, but I can absolutely appreciate the human effort that went into these places and this experience.
So, back across the street to my comfy room; it’s a 6-tatami mat room with a tiny bath-cubicle-thing in a new annex out back. My room definitely smells swampy - yeah, hiker bear doesn’t smell amazing, or at least his dirty clothes don’t - but hey, that’s fine too. I’ve got half an hour before dinner; I need to restock my pilgrim’s supplies as I’m out of incense & I also need to write up some nameslips for tomorrow’s walk. It’s short, maybe 12 or 14 km total, but all in the city of Matsuyama (I’m in the outermost burbs at the moment) and I think there are 5 or 6 temples to visit tomorrow. Plus, I’ll end the day at a fancy hot springs hotel with kaiseki cuisine, so the earlier I get there, the better (I would like a nice soak now, please, but this inn isn’t ideal for that, especially if I run into the high school baseball team).
Random notes: Nothing much, really! Today was the first day that mostly just felt like work, which is kind of an odd feeling. Thankfully, that was tempered by little things here and there.