Stage 41: Nagano - Hiketa, Temple 88, 15 kms, Rain & Cloud, 24

Temple 88, Magical Moments, Magical Day

It poured all night...all night. I was awake most of it just thinking about the experiences of the past two months. I knew I wouldn't sleep. It didn't matter, energy everywhere. There will be time to sleep when I get home to my hammock, but I didn't want to waste time sleeping. This was just too good.

After breakfast the kind little woman who runs the place took me aside and gave me a big chocolate bar, two hard candies and a bottle of some sort of energy drink. She gave it to me conspiratorially, but I suspect that's just her way with everyone:)  She stood on the street under her nice umbrella waving me out of sight to make sure I walked away in the right direction. I stopped and put on my rain pants. I love my rain pants. I already had on my bright red poncho so I looked pretty good for this day of days. I hoped it would stop raining because I had a decision to make. At the time it seemed to be the biggest decision, a hugely important decision. I decided to walk up to the museum junction where I had to make up my mind...upper way or the lower way?

The walk went from flat to a steady hill climb. The rain let up, my camera came out.

 

 

I arrived at the reservoir where the Maeyama Ohenro Kōryū Salon is located. It's a historical museum covering all things Shokuko Henro. Very well done. I walked in and was greeted with food, tea and an exit interview. "Interesting", I thought as I walked through the museum. I believe this is a very old Henro stamp scroll from the 12th century. 

When I retuned to thank her for the hospitality she had my official Certificate of Henro Completion waiting for me together with a 90 minute long DVD and a beautiful pin for the walk, one that I'll happily add to my Camino hat when I return home. Osettai. Second time today.

 

I stood outside weighing up my options...the high way or the lower way? This was the crunch moment. I looked at the higher way covered in clouds and rain and I dearly wanted to go in that direction, up over 774m Mt. Nyotai complete with its monkeys. I like monkeys. I then thought about all the rain there'd been and how slick the steep exposed rock would be to traverse in my smooth bottomed boots, sadly worn to the nubs at the compression points from all the road walking. I knew then that I couldn't go that way, and realizing how much I'd learned on this journey I simply put it away and walked on at peace with the decision. It turned out that the lower way had its climbs and its moments as well.

 

First there were the heavy trucks on this back road grinding past me and choking me with their exhaust as they went by. Eventually, I passed the place they were dumping and after that the walking improved dramatically. I caught up with a couple of Japanese Henro, always a pleasure. They said, "Hi Geoff-San", they all call me that here. It's a very courteous greeting, but they all know me and I like the familiarity. We discussed the weather and I moved on, but peaked back...

 

I discovered that what the tour companies do with the tourist Henro is that at T88 they drop them off about 3 kms from the temple and they walk in together. That's fine, but they unloaded a bus just in front of me so that my solitude was a bit dented. I crossed the road and passed them then moved on. I had a wardrobe change to make and wanted no witnesses.

 

 

Almost there!

 

Then I'm there. I'd stopped ahead of the tour group and stripped off my soaking shirt and gear on the road and put on my white hakui for T88. Then the immense main gate came into view.

 

I went to the secondary temple first and had it to myself which I thought was strange. Some of the sights. This container was full of thousands of walking   Sticks!

 

 

I headed over towards the main temple and found a few people I knew which was a nice surprise. I went into the main temple and paid my respects and said my thank yous for the successful journey. It was a nice moment. I listened to the groups going throu their sutras, a beautiful sound. I'll miss that. 

 

 

The Process completed, it isn't much different than walking into Santiago. People begin to celebrate, receive their formal certificate...he is printing my name with a brush! Very cool, and he adds the date, all in Japanese of course. 

 

We all enjoy our moment. Here's mine.

 

You probably have no idea how many email, message and blog comments I've received to present myself as a formal Henro in a photo. Owen from Melbourne lent me a bit of his gear, so here you go. 

Of course it just wouldn't be the same if I didn't add my own personal flare. I thought about it, then I threw caution to the wind and said to myself, "what the hell, you only go through life once!"

 

At first there was silence, then genuine laughter, then people began taking photos of this Canuck. They came up to me afterwards and showed me their photos, a different view of my process! It was all pretty funny, and I needn't have been concerned about offending anyone. The Japanese generally seem to have a health sense of humour:). They must have with the quality of their tv programming!

We walked down to the other main gate intending to look for lunch. 

 

Owen and his wife bought me lunch, which they called osettai. Unnecessary, but very thoughtful. We caught the bus and they got off at the museum to get their certificates and I continued on alone, but not alone. I was with my local Japanese Henro pals who waved madly as they departed the bus to go to their homes. Eventually there were four of us dropped at the train station. 
 

Two got into one train, again with many goodbyes and much waving. It was great! Then there were two. We caught the same train. My friend from Hiroshima, an older fellow, was on his way to Tokushima for the night then onwards to Koysan to complete his journey before traveling home. We said our goodbyes at my station, which he made sure I didn't miss, and then also waved at the window. A bit melancholy, but I've been there before...just move on. I stopped at a grocery store to buy a cold beer to celebrate and then walked to my minshuku. My host was waiting for me on the street out front as I was last in at 4pm and after a shower I walked down to dinner to find Roy sitting there. A great reunion! We sat and ate and talked and ate until our host tossed us out! Perhaps we will walk together to T1 tomorrow. Yes, one more day of walking, a good solid day of walking. A time to reflect on all my good fortune. Yes, I'll be posting from Tokishima tomorrow...with a cold beer beside me! It's been a perfect day. Yup, I'm tired, but so very satisfied.

 

As I said, magical moments, magical day!