Left the templle lodging at Anrakuji, Temple 6, after breakfast and was at Ryozenji, Temple 1, a little after 10:00.
The main gate:
A statue of the bodhisattva Jizo just inside the main gate. Jizo is the protector of children and travellers, and kept his eye out for me all around the island.
But for this pilgrimage, this is the man that tradition says makes sure that everything runs smoothly. This is the Daishi Hall at Temple 1, so this is where you tell him that you are setting out and this is where you tell him that you are back, and have finished successfully.
And once you have finished, this is the first thing to do --- get out of those hiking boots and let the feet feel free again. I can't complain about these boots, though, they have been very, very kind to me over the past few years. They have carried me over a great many kilometers of trail, road, and street, all without one blister or the need for even one band-aid or piece of tape. Boots, i am in debt to you. Thanks for your help, patience, and care.
I know i've said it before, but i just don't see how a month and a half have passed already. No matter how hard i try, i can't make it feel as if i have been on the trail for 36 days. Plus the two tours that i helped guide before that. It just doesn't seem possible.
I still do think, though, that this was my last personal walk of the entire trail. My gut tells me that four times is enough. My gut tells me that what i needed to see, what i needed to do, what i needed to experience has been seen, done, and experienced.
Tomorrow and Thursday i have no plans other than to take it easy. I'll stay here in Tokushima tomorrow and move to an, as yet undecided, hotel in Osaka on Thursday.
On Friday i plan to spend the day in Kyoto exploring the three temples that Kobo Daishi, or Kukai, as he was known then, was associated with while he was alive. When he returned from China he was kept on Kyushu for a few years. When finally given permission to return to Kyoto he lived in Otokuniji for some time. After that he moved to Takaosanji. While he didn't live at Toji, the government gave the temple to him and allowed him to make it a temple dedicated to training only Shingon buddhist monks.
On Saturday i'll go to Mt. Koya and The Daishi's mausoleum. On Sunday i return to Chicago.
Another wonderdul spring on the island of Shikoku.....
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