Temple 84, Yashima-ji walk
Temple 85, Yakuri-ji walk
Temple 86, Shido-ji walk, hitch
Temple 87, Nagano-ji hitch
The tea ceremony room
Miles walked: 10.6
Slept at: Henro House, Nagao
We started the morning with a brief, but sweaty climb up to Mt Yashima where the lovely Temple features the Yashima Tasaburo badger carved from a giant stone. The legend is that this badger metamorphosed into a man in a straw hat and led Kobo Daishi to Mt Yashima on a foggy night. He is also known to be a monogamist (therefore only one lady badger?) and good luck to marriages, happy families, and restaurants.
At most temples we run into old friends or make new ones. Here, we saw our engineer friend who drove us up hairpin turns in his van home. These encounters always seem unexpected, serendipitous, but really we are all more or less on the same path.
Our crossing down was a bit treacherous with rickety, uneven steps, and ropes slung alongside the steep trail, most gone slack.
On our way up to 85 we were greeted on the trail by a sign inviting Henro in for a rest. Inside, a lovely couple invited us in, gave us slippers, and served tea and snacks. We chatted in broken English. They have been hosting Henro in their home from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, six days a week, for nine years. They built the house just for this purpose and seem to be promoting Japanese culture as well. They have a special Japanese tea ceremony room in the house and I noticed the straw cushions in the house were on display at the folkcraft museum in Ritsurin Park.
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