Day 7: Komatsushima-Katsuura
Today was off to a good start: no wait for the elevator from the 8th (top!) floor down to the breakfast area, which was jam-packed with all kinds of tasty things (as well as a low ceiling I didn’t manage to see, ouch). It’s been so long since I’ve seen a Japanese hotel breakfast buffet that I kind of got a few things wrong, but now my memory’s been stirred a bit and I’ll get it right the next time. (Yes, there are different bowls for the miso soup and the rice. Don’t mix them up!).
Breakfast was too much, but as Liberace always said, too much of a good thing is wonderful. Rice, miso soup, bits of omelet with some kind of mystery meat, salad, pickles, umeboshi, iced coffee, and a croissant stuffed with red beans. Yum. Far too much, but hey, what are you going to do?
I took out the inserts from my new shoes, inserted my orthotics, and hoped that things would go reasonably well. They’re better than the Hokas, but still not 100%; at the end of the day my outside toe blisters weren’t worse (good!) but I had a couple of tiny new ones (not good!), albeit not painful.
There were only two temples to visit today; the first one was only an hour away and I found it charming:
I enjoyed lingering here for a while; even better, the paths to and from the temple weren’t on roads.
Not too much further on, I was waved down by a gentleman in his 70s who wanted to chat for a while about the pilgrimage; I think he might run a guesthouse nearby? He was very kind and gave me a delicious maple flavored cookie; I remembered to give him an osamefuda, a name-slip in return, as is customary.
A bit further along, though, the exact opposite thing happened, more or less; a local on a moped saw me coming and decided that he needed to proselytize for a bit, although he didn’t speak much English. I gathered that he thought Kobo Daishi and (more generally) Shingon Buddhism sucked, that it wasn’t real Buddhism, and then he went on for a while; I could only pick out a few words. When I heard ‘corona’ and ‘political party’ I pretty much tuned out - it was unpleasant, but not dangerous, and mostly just bizarre. It’s like being waylaid by a Latter-day Saint on the Camino, I guess? Tacky!
I had thought today would involve less walking than previous days; I was wrong. It totaled about 22 km all in all, which was a bit more than I wanted to do today. The second temple felt a bit more touristy, located smack dab in the middle of a suburb and surrounded by restaurants and shops. The stamp office had two monks working there and I’ve never seen someone dash off calligraphy so quickly; it was efficient, minimalist, and unremarkable. However, it was a lovely place to stop for a while (again); after going through the rituals, I removed my vestments etc., repacked my bag, enjoyed a bottle of something called Body Mainté (yet another fine Otsuka Pharmaceutical drink - I think they’re also the owners of Ridge in California, but I digress), and got ready for the final 12 km or so to a michi-no-eki (think something like a turnpike rest area, with local products and a restaurant) where the next inn was going to pick me up (they’re a few miles out of town).
It was a mildly interesting walk; I’m glad I got off the road as often as I could to walk less traveled roads, even though that increased the overall mileage. I chatted back and forth over email with tonight’s inn, who agreed to pick me up at around 13h30; shortly before arriving at the rest area, a friendly farmer gave me some kind of citrus fruit I’ll eat tomorrow. I misjudged timing on a quick yakisoba snack, so the pickup crew caught me with a little bit off food left, but they were kind to wait another two minutes for me to finish. Oh, and Godzilla:
Tonight’s lodgings are in a converted high school in a remote rural village and they’re lovely. I’m sleeping in the teacher’s lounge, which is huge and comfortable. Dinner’s an hour from now; I’ve done my laundry, had a nice visit to the baths downstairs, and have splurged on having my backpack delivered to tomorrow’s lodgings for about $20 because I’m tired. Unlike previous hiking trips, I didn’t book a zero (i.e., a rest day, a day with zero hiking) once a week because I didn’t want to stay away from home too long - but I find myself realizing that that was a mistake, so I’m doing what I can to ease things a bit for myself. The day after tomorrow, for example, I think I’m going to stop after the first 12 km and just take a train to that day’s hostel - I don’t need another 20 km, especially with a full pack! What I do need to do is to find a balance between a good amount of physical exercise and actual enjoyment…
Random notes:
I didn’t get to find out what the Super Hotel toothbrush mystery exchange gift was this morning as the front desk was unstaffed, sadly.
Only one cat sighting today - it ran away from me quickly, so no picture, alas!
I haven’t mentioned what’s in my pack; this is the short version…
Three pairs of underwear, three pairs of socks
A wool T-shirt, a synthetic T-shirt, a cotton T-shirt
One pair of hiking pants, one pair of hiking shorts
Rain jacket, rain kilt, packable down jacket, pack cover, gloves, waterproof glove covers
A pair of lightweight plastic Birkenstocks to wear in hotels as my feet are enormous by Japanese standards
A Microsoft Surface Go laptop (lightweight and cheap)
Battery, charging cables, etc.
Sunglasses, extra pair of prescription glasses
Dry bags, toilet kit, small towel, Leukotape, folding scissors, toothbrush, toothpaste, sunblock, lip balm, and so on and so forth
A small day pack to wear when I’m not wearing my main backpack
Buddhist kit bag, stole, hakui (vest), stampbook, nameslips, incense, lighter, candles, etc.
Leki carbon fiber hiking poles
Tilley hat, PCT trucker cap, humongous circular Japanese hat thing
A bag with snacks in it
Passport, passport card, wallet, cash, maps, lens cleaning cloth, ibuprofen, dental floss, antacids, earplugs, napkins, etc.
A double ended bolt snap hook
GODZILLA! 😘