Month: May 2012

The First Steps

Mat Koya

Easy walking from Ryōzenji towards Dainichji. I arrived there at 5:15 and the guy told me sorry, we’re closed and send me to some old cow stable – it’s save there, he said. But I didn’t like to sleep on the concrete floor, so I looked for some softer place, which I found near on the edge of the woods. During the night I could hear fears coming out and looking for food.
The next day I decided to go up to Taisanji – 大山寺. The plate I followed said 1.8km, but it meant 1.8km to the first rest place. On the end that were more than 5 or 6 km steep up and sometimes down through woods and mountain. It was very nice and interesting what for thoughts and associations are coming to ones mind, while following the path. On the end it was worth the effort. After climbing 108 steep stairs, a nice old looking temple awaited me.

20120523-115852.jpg大山寺
After i came down from there i just managed to come shortly before 5 o’clock to Jisōji 🙂
A bit later I met 2 funny guys in front of a Lawson shop, who are doing the Pilgramige reverse by bicycle. They got their blog here: http://temples88.blogspot.jp/?m=1

Interlude

Mat Koya

A warm welcome at Ryōzenji by our old friend from Koyasan, Kinoshita San. She brought me to a wonderful onzen and later we enjoyed a nice dinner together. The next morning presented me the wonderful spectacle of a full sun eclipse.
Washing cloth and spending the night at a friendly guys house. All that filled my heart with gratefulness for these wonderful and nice people.

20120523-113506.jpgoishiii dinner 🙂

Prologue

Mat Koya

On the second day I had to take it really slow. The last peace of way towards Jisoin were really hard. Steep downhill on a street is a burden especially for the knees. The price I had to pay the next day with knee pain, which slowed me down a lot until I decided to stop, realizing that I walked less than 15km. Nevertheless this was the right thing to do and the knee stopped hurting the next day.
That night the North Face tent proofed itself the first time. I stayed on the shore of Kinokawa river. Rain and thunderstorm was knocking and wrenching on the walls of the tent. Next morning the sun was smiling down from the sky and I moved on. In the evening I allowed myself the luxury of visiting an izakaya in Iwase, a place in the outskirts of Wakayama city. He was so kind to invite me stay in his house over night. I felt so blessed! Hot shower, a big futon and a solid breakfast – with beer instead of coffee! – the next morning.

20120521-011422.jpgmy hosts in front of their shop
The next day I could still walk for some time along the river but at one point I had no chance than to use the street until I reached the ferry port. In the evening I finally reached Shikoku. From Tokushima ferry port until Ryōzen-Ji it’s still some 30km mostly along streets.

20120521-011630.jpgRyōzen-Ji

First day

Mat Koya

Late starting is not a good idea. After I was done with packing, going to Okunoin, writing mails and saying good bye to dear Takeshi, it was already 2 in the early afternoon. I thought Koyasan – Kudoyama, that’s half am hour by car, won’t be to long. On the end I came into the night and lost the way on the last 2km. These last couple of kms are the toughest part. It goes down hill, very steep on a concrete road through plantings of peach trees and this is burden for the knees, so it slows one down.
Now I’d like a shower or hot ofuro, all what is available here is a toilet, at least I can wash myself 🙂
The tent I bought before (North Face Mica1) is really small, but sufficient and built up in a couple of minutes. The low wright of 1.6kg is also a big plus.
Anyway I still have the feeling of carrying to much weight around, I’ll see if there’s anything I can throw off the next days. The sleeping bag,although it,s down, is quite big and heavy. On the other side it feels very cozy and it’s still fresh during the night.

20120517-090401.jpg

Preparing to set off to Shikoku

Mat Koya

This week I decided very spontaniously to do the Shikoku pilgrimage. The current plan is to start from Koyasan next Tuesday after doing Goma at Muryokoin in the morning. I’m still thinking what to take with me, the little computer to write this blog here? Or just a note book, the old way with pen and paper? Which shoes? The classical trekking shoes or the more funky 5-finger shoes?

Anyway, before I start I need to finish this eMail component I’m working on in 4D. This thing gave me some headaches, because of the way, how Apple Mail handles emails. Apple Mail, as well as Thunderbird don’t recognize the lenght of a html eMail if it is built up only with divs and spans. The result is that attachments are placed over the text of the mail, which looks especially funny with pdfs. So now I’m counting the height of the mail and add invisible lines in the background before the attachment is added. The dispostion type of attachment is anyway ignored by most MAUs. Very funny for what is there then anyway?