Day 4

Day 4, August 6

Woke up to rain at 5:00 this morning. According to the master of the ryokan, I would need to leave by 6:00 in order to make it to the first temple of the day, Kakurinji (鶴林寺), before it got too hot (yes, another mountain temple). It was only 11 km away, but he warned me I'd have to push my bicycle the last 5 km because it was so steep. So, even though I didn't believe him, he had my breakfast ready by 5:30am and I made it out of there after the rain mostly stopped by 6:45. I didn't have to push my bike the last 5km. Just about 3km of it! I couldn't believe the road...in some places my Garmin calculated the grade at more than 15%!! I realized I could stay on my bike anywhere under 10% grade, but anything more and I was pushing the bike uphill. After almost throwing up several times, I made it to the top around 8:15am. I would put that as the hardest climb by far up to now. Get me down out of these mountains!

After spending 20 minutes trying to recover my breath I paid my respects and zipped down the mountain on the way to number 21, Tairyūji (太竜寺), supposedly one of the most difficult and remote mountain temples. Oh crap, another mountain temple.

Luckily for me, they have a cable car that can take you from the river valley up to the top of the mountain in 10 minutes. This was the first time it took longer to get down off the mountain than get up it.

The proper way to get to the top of the mountain temples...

Statue of Kobo Daishi, the founder of the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism.  He established Koya-san monestary to which most of the 88 temples are affiliated.  His statue is everywhere along the pilgrimage route.

The rest of the day I passed through valleys and small towns as I worked my way back to the ocean. 

Finally back down to the ocean!

As I came into the last temple of the day, I passed by a hotel with a hot spring, and a 500 yen charge to use the baths only...so tempting, but time was running out for the last temple.  Temple number 23, Yakuōji (薬王寺), was a very picturesque temple, but as I was anxious to get to the hot spring, I rushed things a bit.

View from Yakuoji

Koya-kun, the Koya-san mascot.  Is he a competitor to the pilgrimage manga-monk (don't know his name)? 

That evening I spent the night at a government-sponsored lodge. While the food was good, the room smelled like it was used by a family of chain smokers that died and were buried under the tatami mats. Too tired to do anything about it, I just had a beer and fell asleep.