June 4, 2025

Day 56: T87 & T88 (from Takamatsu)

I’m going to go to dinner shortly, so this is all there is for right now: I completed the pilgrimage today. Took the train to Nagao, walked to Nagao-ji, T87, walked to the henro museum, walked to Okubo-ji, took a bus back to Nagao, and took the train back to my hotel in Takamatsu. Only 3.5 hours walking, but 16.7 kilometers and 560 meters elevation gain. (Thanks to yesterday’s storm, the staff at the museum suggested I not do the modern, steep route to the temple, but instead use the traditional, longer, less steep route, which I happily did, even though it was 95% on pavement.)

If there’s any kind of grand arc to the day, it was this: as I neared the henro museum, piles of shit started appearing. I thought it must be one family with poor dog walking skills, but then realized it was monkey shit instead. Those fuckers were everywhere - thankfully they were afraid of me, so they got out of my way quickly and consistently, but man: it was still wet from yesterday and there were just all kinds of critters afoot. More spiders than I’ve ever seen before. Cockroaches, other bugs, lizards - and even martens or something similar, some small mammalian things bounding away quickly. Feral cats. I’ve never seen so many alive things, most of them repulsive to an extent.

And then the trail ascended further, the critters disappeared, and then suddenly I was in green, sunlit countryside, views down over the islands, and surrounded by butterflies. Every concrete wall had dozens of butterflies; gravelly areas were awash in butterflies as well. Any time I stopped walking, butterflies swarmed me. All butterflies, all the time; after the rain and murk of the last few days, I’m guessing that they needed that sunshine to dry out and do their thing.

As I set my pack down at the very last temple for the very last time, I saw a caterpillar had parked itself on my back while I was walking.

I carried it to safety and let it be. It’ll be a butterfly soon.

Start date: 04-10-2025
End date: 06-04-2025

Total number of days walked: 48
Rest days taken: 7

Transportation: Salomon Trekking XA PRO 3D size 32, ropeway, cable car, bus, train, Botchan train, DMV (Dual Mode Vehicle), ferry, streetcar, chair lift

Kilometers walked: 1120
Miles walked: 696

Injuries: none
Blisters: both little toes, ball of my left foot (with bonus presumed subdermal hematoma that’s still very mildly annoying)

Items lost: one sock
Items found by the JR Clement Inn Takamatsu staff: one sock

That’s it for now, folks. I gotta go get my laundry out of the dryer and eat something - all I’ve had today is a red bean paste bun, an energy bar, and a glass of 7-Eleven Médoc. (Delicious.)

So why two sets of incense candles as my final offering of the trail? Simple: Pilgrims carry a staff that says 同行二人 on it. “Traveling together, two people.” In theory, that’s Kobo Daishi, the Japanese monk who brought esoteric Buddhism to Japan - but I realized today that no, that isn’t true for me. There were always two people traveling together on this pilgrimage, though - Team Bear and Marmot. I’ll always be by your side, Marmot. See you soon!