Whispers of the Orient

A very special visit to two of the 88 temples on a 750 mile circular pilgrimage route through the Shikoku Mountains. On our ride, we saw many rice fields having just been planted or were about to be planted. The first temple, Tairyu-ji, was founded by Kobo Daishi, a monk and poet responsible for the creation of the Shigon school of Buddism. We visited Tairyu-ji temple via Japan’s longest ropeway gondola. We saw our first pilgrims today. There was a spiritual quality to this temple, high in the mountains with 105 steps leading to the temple. Then we visited Byodo-ji Temple in a neighborhood setting. This was also ethereal and beautiful in a simple way. We saw many pilgrims but were disappointed to see them hop into a van for their next stop. One pilgrim even had shiny gold shoes, somehow not appropriate for treking!Read more