The view from Marugame Castle
Day 24 would be my final day on the island of Shikoku 四国, during which much like the pilgrim completing the circle by traveling from Temple 88 back to Temple 1 (note that the pilgrimage doesn't actually have to be done in this order), I would close the loop on the smallest of Japan's four main islands by returning to Takamatsu 高松, the starting point of this Japanese travel-related bucket list journey.
The day began with my waking up at Kaze no Kuguru 風のくぐる in Zentsūji 善通寺市. As meals weren't included in the rates, these were the morning scenes on the way to breakfast at a nearby McDonald's:
The friendly proprietor of Kaze no Kuguru. Should you ever find yourself in need of accommodations in Zentsuji and don't require five-star hotel amenities, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a stay here:
Zentsū-ji 善通寺 is Temple 75 of the 88, and is the largest of them all. The great monk Kūkai 空海 (posthumously known as Kōbō Daishi 弘法大師) was born in its precincts in 774 (so you know the temple has some serious history behind it), and the giant camphor trees there are said to go back at least as far as the saint's childhood. I spent time exploring the grounds, including the Hondō 本堂:
The five-story pagoda ご重大塔 was another highlight to admire:
Peeking inside Kanchi-in 頭観智院, one of the sub-temples on the grounds of Zentsu-ji. It was established by Kobo Daishi in 807, though the present building is a 1925 construction:
The highlight for me was the Mie-dō 御影堂. For ¥500 ($3.40) I was allowed to slowly feel my way along a pitch-black underground passage (not easy for one prone to claustrophobia as I am), eventually reaching an altar marking where Kukai was born. By doing so I was now safely following Buddha's way:
While at the temple I was pleased to find a vending machine selling a yogurt soda called Yōgurun ヨーグルンソーダ. I'd first seen the drink in a machine outside Tokushima Station 徳島駅, and being a fan of similar quaffs such as Calpis カルピス and Skäl スコール was eager to try it, but it was sold out there. I'd been on the lookout for it since, and the Daishi finally answered my prayers. And all was good, including the taste:
While enjoying the milky yogurt sensation I noticed that Los Angeles Dodgers superstar and two-way sensation Shōhei Ohtani 大谷翔平 was promoting Itōen Green Tea 伊藤園お茶. His green tea, his soul:
I had assumed that Zentsu-ji would be the last of the pilgrimage temples I would be visiting on this trip, but it turned out that assumption was mistaken. I was making good time that morning, and temple 73 Shusshaka-ji 出釈迦寺 was only nine minutes away by car, so I decided to make one more stop before leaving Zentsuji (the city). The temple once stood 500 meters/1640 feet above the plain on a steep mountain, but was relocated to the valley below around 200 years ago to make it more accessible to pilgrims. Legend has it that Kobo Daishi threw himself off the peak at the tender age of just seven, asking the Buddha to save him if it was going to be his destiny to save others. Apparently it was:
And with that, I was finished with the pilgrimage, having visited 14 of the 88 temples. There had been a time when I thought of doing the full pilgrimage on foot (and I would see many henro 遍路 doing just that during my trip around Shikoku, including a few fellow gaijin 外人) but reality eventually prevailed. I elected not to go full henro when visiting the temples, but I did make sure to offer a simple prayer at each main hall (and often at the adjoing Daishi Halls 大師堂 as well) expressing my gratitude at still being able to get around.
From Shusshaka-ji it was around a 20-minute drive to what would be my final destination in Shikoku, Marugame-jō 丸亀城. This castle, completed in 1597 after five years of construction, might be small (and is the smallest in Shikoku), but it's one of only a dozen in Japan to have its original wooden donjon still standing. Getting to it involved a ten-minute walk up a steep slope (not very enjoyable in the hot weather), but the views looking out over the city and the Inland Sea 瀬戸内海 were worth the effort:
It really wasn't worth going inside, though, as there wasn't much to see in the interior of the three-story structure:
The Great Seto Bridge 瀬戸大橋 could be seen in the distance. I would be crossing it on a train that afternoon:
While there I met Donald, a friendly fellow originally from the Philippines who was now living in Marugame 丸亀市. He was on his way to a local pool after the castle, an excellent idea on this blisteringly hot day:
I, however, had other things to do. Following a quick lunch at a local MOS Burger モスバーガー I drove on to Takamatsu, where I returned my rented Toyoto Corolla. My trusty aluminum and steel steed had taken me around the island for the past 17 days or so without any issues, a fact for which I was very grateful:
Not long after dropping off the vehicle, I found myself again on the Marine Liner マリンライナー. Twenty-one days earlier I'd taken the train from Okayama Station 岡山駅 to Takamatsu Station 高松駅. Now I was making the return journey:
A last look at Shikoku as the train was making its way:
Crossing the Seto Ōhashi Bridge:
At Okayama I changed to the bullet train 新幹線 for the short (fewer than twenty minutes) ride to Himeji Station 姫路駅. The view of Himeji Castle 姫路城 as seen when exiting the station's East Exit 東口:
Walking through the Miyuki Street Shopping Center みゆき通り商店街 next to my hotel:
The view from my room on the 13th floor of the Daiwa Roynet Hotel Himeji ダイワロイネットホテル姫路:
For dinner that evening I found myself at Kaitenzushi Rikimaru 回転寿司力丸, a local conveyor-belt sushi chain where I ordered a lot more than what's shown in the photo:
By the time I finished gorging myself all the souvenir stores around the station were closed so I wasn't able to purchase any local craft beer. Google directed me to a liquor store in the red-light district:
The night view from my hotel room...:
...where I enjoyed my purchase. It wasn't from Himeji but it was still 地ビール:
Through 35 years and numerous trips I had managed to cover virtually the whole of Japan, ranging from the snowy climes of Hokkaidō 北海道 down to white sand beaches of Okinawa 沖縄, with stops in 44 of the country's 47 prefectures. But until this moment I had only made tentative forays into Shikoku: in 1990 I spent a night in Kotohira 琴平 in Kagawa-ken 香川県 for the purpose of visiting Konpira-san 金刀比羅宮 while traveling between Kyōto 京都 and Hiroshima 広島; in 1997 when I made a day trip by train from Okayama via the Seto Ohashi to the city of Sakaide 坂出, a depressing sight as many of the businesses close to the train station there were shuttered; and another day trip in the spring of 2012 when I pedaled a rented bicycle from Ikuchi Island 生口島 (part of Onomichi City 尾道市 on the island of Honshū 本州) to Ōmishima Island 大三島, which falls under the jurisdiction of Imabari 今治市 in Ehime-ken 愛媛県.
Thanks to having access to a rented car (and to my supervisor for allowing me to take all that time off from work), I was able to visit all four prefectures on the island (Tokushima 徳島県, Kagawa, Ehime and Kōchi 高知県) over a period of three weeks, spending time in each of the prefectural capitals, and bumping my prefecture total up to 46 after exploring Tokushima and Kochi*. Of the four main islands of the Japanese archipelago, Shikoku has earned the not-always-inaccurate reputation of being something of a backwater. But it's a region well worth the effort to visit, with engaging cities and attractive scenery ranging from its mist-covered mountains down to its rugged coastlines. And of course there's that spiritual element to it. Japan has many regional pilgrimages, but nowhere else in the country can compare to the 88 temples forming a circular route around Shikoku.
Ideally I would've visited the four prefectures on four different trips, but those of you who have been following these blog posts would probably agree that it didn't feel as if I was rushing around during those recent twenty-one days ("If it's Tuesday I must be in Kochi!").
So that was Shikoku. But this most recent excursion to Japan wasn't over just yet. Don't change that channel as there are still at least two more posts to go before this series wraps up and I can begin regaling you with tales from old Canton.
*The one remaining prefecture on the J-Bucket List™ is Ibaraki 茨城県, located between 30 and 150 kilometers (19 and 93 miles, respectively) north of the city center of Tōkyō 東京. While I've passed through it many times on trains, I've never stepped foot on its soil (perhaps for good reason, as Ibaraki is consistently ranked by the Japanese themselves as the least attractive prefecture). That oversight will hopefully be addressed before the end of this current tour in Guangzhou 广州.
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