A Very Long Day

I started out at Dainichiji number 13 this morning. It quickly started to pour rain and I battled pack straps, camera straps and the strapes holding my pouch for my temple supplies. It was quite the challenge trying to get out some money or take a picture without getting everything soaking wet and hopelessly tangled up in my rain poncho. I was delighted when it stopped raining sometime around noon. The first few temples were fairly close together, between 1 and 3 kilometers. But the trek from 17 to 18 was significantly challenging. Not just due to the nearly 18 kilometers between the two, but also because of the incredibly confusing directions in my guidebook. There were routes going in every direction and I really had no idea which one to take or even which one I was really on. There seemed to be two predominant options with various alternative branches connected with them. There was the city route and the mountain route. I basically just followed the little red arrows and anything pointing towards Temple 18. I ended up on the mountain route, which I'm sure was more interesting and safer than tangling with the heavy traffic through the city. First it led me past a mysterious cemetery then up a steep mountain trail that of course was soaking wet and slippery from all the rain. At one point the trail marker was crossed out with a long detailed note in Japanese that apparently described why it was crossed out. A steep near vertical narrow trail led from that spot back down to the road. The trail crossed the road then went back into the woods many times. There were interesting Jiso statues wearing red bibs and red knitted bonnets in many of the turns in the trail. Several crows shouted at me as I passed by. I guess they weren't interested in company today.

After leaving the forest I followed the pilgrim signs. They led me down a bike path eventually through a farmer's field and then disappeared. Luckily I found the farmer who left his tractor to see if he could help. He seemed as confused as I was over the twisted maze of options on my map. But he finally was able to point the way back across the river where I really belonged.

It looked like I had no chance of getting to Temple 18 before the 5 pm office closing time, so I was just hoping to find the place I planned to stay. The guidebook seemed to show that I had at least two hours of walking time and it was already 4 pm. Then suddenly I saw a sign pointing to the temple that said 1.8 kilometers! That's about a 20 minute walk at most. It was now 4:15 and I knew I could make it. I even ran up the long steep hill just be sure. I had no idea it was that close.

I had 4 kilometers to go to get to my little Japanese hotel, and of course missed my turn and ended up on the wrong street. I found the street and heard a woman call out to me. She found me before I found the place!

I had a wonderful shower and a delicious meal of sushi and rice. The futon looks very inviting now.