Day 1: Take Care

Today I visited Temples 1 through 6. It took me a moment to figure out what the procedures are like at the temple, but I think I’m getting the hang of it. It’s nice to listen to the chanting while I do my own prayers and well-wishing. And the temples were very well-maintained and peaceful! I kept thinking oh, I like this one! upon seeing them. A lady chatted with me at Temple 2 and said this was her fourth time doing it. I had a bit of a hard time understanding her, and she laughed and asked if she had a local accent, because I learned my Japanese mostly in Tokyo. On the way to Temple 4 a man in a car stopped and asked me if I was headed that way. I said yes, and he said something about “kemono no michi.” I thought he was telling me something about the pilgrim road, but turns out he was warning me about animals. Regardless he told me to take care. 😅 I wish I had understood him better. But the local conversations, including a nice one I had at dinner with a lady who is doing the Henro for a second time, are helping me improve and remember my rusty Japanese. I pushed it a bit far trying to get to Temple 6 since I wanted to get all the way to 11 tomorrow. I tried to order a taxi, but there weren’t any, so I decided to push on with the 68 minute walk, and quickly, because I was afraid of the stamp office closing at 4:30. I was flagging on my way to Temple 4 already, but got a sudden burst of energy. On my way back I started speed walking to catch the next bus, then realized I didn’t need to rush. What for? I was going to the same place anyway, there was no hurry, and that wasn’t the point. I did a U-turn, looked at the temple again, then sat at a rest stop for 20 minutes, looking at the sky (and my phone). I didn’t use my headphones at all today. I was surprisingly chipper just being with my senses and my thoughts. I feel very lucky to do this! It was beautiful weather today. I’m expecting rain the next few days, but hopefully it won’t be too bad.