Temples: #11-12 (Fujiidera, Shōsanji).
Distance: 22.4km (67.0km), time spent: 9:42.
Weather: Slightly overcast, but some sun also.
Looking at the elevation profile of the trail, there is one thing that stands out, it resembles a sound diagram of quiet music with sudden spikes of loud music. The spikes are the mountains that you encounter between the relatively flat ground you otherwise walk on. Today, I encounter the first of those spikes when the henromichi takes me up into the mountains to visit Shōsanji, the twelfth temple.
Outside Kamonoyu in the morning.
The weather is nice outside when I wake up, but there are clouds in the horizon, no rain is imminent however. It took some time for me to fall asleep last night, so I am a little bit groggy in the morning as I leave Kamonoyu to venture up into the mountains. While walking on the road at the beginning, a car stop by next to me and a man comes out and begin to adjust the straps of my backpack, I continue walking with a slightly painful pressure on my chest. Needless to say, I do not walk long before I have to readjust it back.
A worshipper at Fujiidera.
Fujiidera (Wisteria Temple), temple #11, is not far away from my small shelter in Kamojima and lies at the slopes of the mountains ahead of me. Still, I manage to go wrong, though I cannot see how. I meet a man walking a cobble of dogs, who guides me through a path in the forest back to temple. Saturday, the temple is bustling with people. That may be the reason why I cannot entirely enjoy it there, it looks otherwise like a peaceful place with some nice old buildings, with trees looming over them.
From Fujiidera the trail goes past a Mini Shikoku 88 Temples Site, a smaller version of the 88-temple pilgrimage route.
The route going past one of the small shrines dedicated to a temple on the pilgrimage, next to a small waterfall.
Almost unseenly at the back of the temple I find the path leading up under the shelter of the trees. Quickly I discover that this is another world of the pilgrimage, as I walk further and further up, with the sounds from the temple receding as I go. This is also a Mini Shikoku 88 Temples Site, meaning that next to the path I walk on there are small shrines dedicated to each temple on the pilgrimage. I pass by a small waterfall that fills up the air with the sound of the water flowing down. It is a beautiful walk. Soon also the tiny shrines recedes and it is only me and the trees left.
There is a mystic aura around the Chōdo-an shrine when I walk past it on my way.
From other blogs that I have read, I had been warned about that it would be a steep climb up, and that it would not be a continuous climb, but a series of ascents and descents before I can enter through the temple gates at Shōsanji. I was prepared for this, due to Japans proximity to South-Korea I had expected it to be of a similar kind to what I experienced there. Steep it is at times, often aided by wooden steps put into the ground. I wonder if I have brought enough water with me.
After Chōdo-an you come to a great viewpoint where you can look out over the valley floor of the previous days on the pilgrimage, tracing your footsteps between the villages and open land. And wondering about the time you will come down from the mountains behind when you finish the pilgrimage.
Cloaked by the trees, I walk by three shrines on the way, Chōdo-an, Ryūsui-an, and Jōren-an. Both Chōdo-an and Jōren-an are of the mysterious kind, especially in this setting with clouds slowly drifting past the buildings. Watching over my approach to Jōren-an on a long staircase made of stone is a large statue of Kōbō Daishi. It is a nice spot next to a huge wonderful tree, but the buildings looks old and worn. Another man is there, giving me a sudachi (a citrus fruit) to taste while we have a short conversation.
A typical path on the climb up to Shōsanji, steep up on wooden stairs in the ground.
As in Korea, you also walk in the mountains under cover of the trees mostly, with the occasional opening up to the outside world. Undulating up and down in an atmospheric environment. The clouds soon took place on the sky, with moments of sun in between. This is wonderful when I am walking on top of a ridge where the sunrays are filtered through the clouds seeping across the path. A play of light and shadow. The best views comes just after Chōdo-an where I can look back over the flat valley floor of the two previous days, and in the valley you come to before starting the final steep ascent to Shōsanji.
At the top of a ridge, the sunrays plays a game of light through the drifting clouds.
Shōsanji (Burning Mountain Temple) is situated at about 700 metres. Emerging out of the forest, I follow a row of ornamented stone lamps on a stone fence past several tiny shrines and statues on the entryway to the temple. Situated up into the mountains it is another favorite of mine so far. It is far more quieter here than I had expected, given the throng of people at Fujiidera. I go through the temple rituals, wanders a little about the temple, get my nōkyōchō-book stamped and sit down to eat lunch. Then curiosity strikes again.
Looking down at Ryūsui-an. Further down from this shrine, there is a nice henro hut available for the henroes to stay at.
Approaching Jōren-an with Kōbō Daishi watching over you when you climb the stone stairs leading to the shrine.
Above the temple, on the summit of Shōsanjiyama itself, lies Zaō Daigongen. Which is the inner sanctum and okunoin to the temple. I can leave my backpack behind at the temple office while I climb up to it. The path up is nice, even with the spiderwebs with some nasty looking spiders in them crossing over the path. I pass by the site where Kōbō Daishi apparently sealed a dragon inside, marked by two small statues and a shrine. At the summit is a larger shrine, I ring the bell at the shrine. The views from the top is broken, but I can still see the valleys below and hills and mountains afar. Back at Shōsanji, I get a separate stamp for Zaō Daigongen in my book, and a thumbs up from the staff.
A great view from the tiny village at the bottom of the last valley before the final steep climb to Shōsanji.
I have three more kilometres to go before I get to my accommodation for the night at Nabeiwa, Sudachi-kan. Going there I do feel kind of following Following the Arrows, a blog that I have been reading prior to this journey. We have now done the pilgrimage in almost the exact same way so far.
Shōsanji, nestled underneath the mountain with the same name.
Zaō Daigongen at the top of Shōsanjiyama.
Sudachi-kan is run by a friendly elderly couple and is proof that you can get along even when you do not speak the same language. After having showered, they serve me a good dinner in their little shop. I notice that they collect notes from different countries around the world, so I donate one 50 kroner note from Norway to their collection. No street lights in the small village as expected, and in the evening I sit outside my room listening to the sounds of the night from the woods around. I am the only guest. I has been a wonderful day.
View from the top of Shōsanjiyama.
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