Day 26 to Koysan

Had been warned that Koysan is up a very steep mountain - well, it is only 30 kms away, so if I have to walk the whole way, it should take 6+hours.  after a hearty buffet breakfast, I headed off to the train station to see if there were any friendly options - but no biko!  Guess I could have packed Hennie into her bag but couldn't be bothered decided we can do it!  So off we went.  For the first 10 km it was basically flat just getting through the suburbs of Hashimoto, then we started to climb gently along…   Spectacular country as always - bamboo, pine, maple and a whole lot of other things, including moss and ferns and palm trees too., Birds peeping away of course!   The road was narrow, but wider than Paluma Rd and probably not as steep.  There were a few villages on the way and I occasionally heard the train rattling along, setting off warning bells and disturbing the peace.  The traffic wasn't too bad, tho the tourist coaches are a pain - far too big and expect everyone to make way for them…  But Hennie and I soldiered upwards and although there were plenty of rests along the way, we were going pretty well until near the top…  to make a long road a bit shorter they have made a new section that has a much steeper gradient and a bit wider, so cars were going faster too, so Hennie and I took our time walking along.  And the, here we are in Koysan! 

You all know that I love Shikoku and one of the main draw cards to Shikoku is the 88 temple pilgrimage, which apparently Kobo Daishi Kukai, a Buddhist monk, is said to have augmented back in the 9th Century.  Well, Koysan is where Kobo Daishi Kukai was granted land to build temples and start up a Buddhist centre.  So I thought I should visit Koysan to see where the pilgrimage trail actually started from.   There are certainly plenty of temples to visit and plenty of tourists visiting them.  I found my bed for tonight at Senskisho-in Temple and was shown to my basic Japanese Inn type room - low coffee table and cushions and a futon.  Sweet!  I really like these.  There was a communal bath (ladies & gents separated) but not open till 4pm, so I unloaded Hennie and set off for a look around. 

I started off at the main Danjo Complex - and it is really complex…  the Konpon Daito (Great Pagoda) had a huge statue of Buddha with 3 smaller ones around it and wall paintings, but no photos allowed.  The other temples in the grounds were all just for looking from the outside - and there were heaps of westerners - one group of loud spanish speaking tourists got up my nose a tad!  Its easy to see why the practising monks aren't that friendly here as the lack of respect in these areas would certainly make me cranky too.

After a soak in a piping hot bath, I went for a stroll around the village.  It's pretty commercial but restaurants are a tad scarce, but I managed to find a little coffee shop, which also served food and had a big plate full of fried noodles with heaps of vegies and a egg…  tho wish I had opted for the dinner at the temple, but wasn't sure I would be here on time. 

So after checking, I see that breakfast tomorrow morning is at 7:30 and at 7:00 is the Morning ceremony to start the day, so I had better get ready for that.

beautiful bamboo and weather