Start
2024年3月31日, アメリカ ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F
Can't complain about TSA Precheck. The JAL lobby was very crowded but it only took about 15 minutes to check my bag and another 15 minutes to clear TSA. The regular TSA line was very long! Now I waitもっと詳しく
Flight
2024年3月31日, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F
The flight is only about half full so while I have an aisle seat, the window seat next to me is empty. Score!
While I had glasses in high school (the 1970s) which were photo-reactive, this is theもっと詳しく
Airport Bus to Wakayama
2024年4月1日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 59 °F
It took a while to clear immigration control and customs, so I got to the last daily bus to Wakayama with 20 minutes to spare.
Wakayama Castle
2024年4月1日, 日本 ⋅ 🌙 61 °F
After checking into my hotel near Wakayama Station, I took a 30 minute walk to Wakayama Castle to do some night sakura viewing.
The sakura was near full bloom, but the hanami festivities were prettyもっと詳しく
Morning
2024年4月2日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 48 °F
Looks like decent weather today for my visit to Kimii-dera and the Wakaura area for sakura viewing. The forecast is for partly cloudy until afternoon when clouds will take over.
Kimii-dera
2024年4月2日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F
The sakura was in full bloom and Kimii-dera was an amazingly beautiful temple. I got there early to avoid the crowds and after spending an hour touring the grounds, I got my first goshuin stamp. Iもっと詳しく
Wakanoura Area
2024年4月2日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 64 °F
I decided to bunch these locations together since they are linked by the Sound of Waves Path, a neat public trail which networks the Shrines and public park areas.
There was a convenient 7-11 locatedもっと詳しく
Walk on a Rainy Day
2024年4月3日, 日本 ⋅ 🌧 57 °F
Expected to rain all day. At least it isn't a heavy rain, just a constant light rain. I had planned to walk to the Wakayama Ferry Terminal with a stop at Wakayama Castle, but now I will walk directly,もっと詳しく
Ferry Ride
2024年4月3日, 日本 ⋅ 🌧 57 °F
Large vehicle and people transporting ferry, similar to the Seattle ferries, but there were very few seats and most of these are reserved. There were carpeted areas for guests and many of these usersもっと詳しく
High winds, no ropeway
2024年4月3日, 日本 ⋅ 🌧 64 °F
The ropeway up to Mount Bizan just started night time operations on April 1, presumably in time for the sakura viewing at Bizan Park. I planned to ride it for both the night light up for the sakura atもっと詳しく
Seibu Park
2024年4月4日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 64 °F
I decided to reverse the order, and rather than climb to Bizan Park then walk to Seibu Park, I would walk to Seibu Park, take an easier climb to Bizan Park, then take the ropeway back down.
Gettingもっと詳しく
Bizan Park
2024年4月4日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 64 °F
From Seibu Park to Bizan Park, it was a steady uphill climb on a winding road, which took about an hour. Going to Seibu Park there were a lot of people walking the route for exercise. On the road fromもっと詳しく
Ryozen-ji (T1)
2024年4月4日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F
Since I arrived early, I did the first (and second) temples to get used to the routine.
At Ryozen-ji there is a store selling Pilgrimage supplies, like the stamp book (nokyocho), "business card"もっと詳しく
Gokuraku-ji (T2)
2024年4月4日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F
Headed over to the second temple since it was close by. This way I could take my time doing the remaining 5 temples the following day and not be worried about getting to the next accommodation onもっと詳しく
Otorii-en
2024年4月4日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 64 °F
Checked into the first accommodation set up with the WalkJapan Tour, Otorii-en, located next door to the first temple, Ryozen-ji.
There were two others booked on the WalkJapan tour, Rebecca andもっと詳しく
Konsen-ji (T3)
2024年4月5日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F
Like the first two temples, the pilgrimage path took you through quiet backstreets in residential areas.
Dainichi-ji (T4)
2024年4月5日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F
First temple with the Pilgrimage Path going outside the residential area, through a forest area.
Heading there, a rest station was set up by an American (New Yorker) who now spent most the time inもっと詳しく
Jizo-ji (T5)
2024年4月5日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F
A straight shot down from T4 but construction might have altered the path. I ended up entering an associated temple (Jizoji Temple Gohyaku Rakan) and was confused until I checked my henroもっと詳しく
Anraku-ji (T6)
2024年4月5日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F
I would be staying at this temple tonight at its lodgings, but since it was early, I went to the next temple before returning for my stay.
Juraku-ji (T7)
2024年4月5日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F
Final temple for today, return to Anraku-ji for temple lodgings.
Temple Stay
2024年4月5日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F
Stayed at the Anraku-ji lodgings. The room was spartan and the meals served were vegetarian.
There was a prayer session with a temple monk after dinner. We prepared 3 items:
Filled a name slip,もっと詳しく
Fujii-dera (T11)
2024年4月6日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F
This temple got short changed since we were eager to start the difficult hike to the next temple so we could comfortably meet the scheduled pickup time with a taxi at the conclusion of the hike.
The Hard Hike
2024年4月6日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F
The trail between Fujii-dera (T11) and Shosan-ji (T12) is 9 miles with an elevation gain of 3,500 feet and requires three peaks to be topped. It took over 6 hours of often strenuous hiking to completeもっと詳しく
Shosan-ji (T12)
2024年4月6日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F
Another temple I short changed because I still needed to walk a mile to reach the taxi pick-up location, so I finished up the temple ASAP.
I remember the relief I felt when I reached the temple gateもっと詳しく
Hotel Shiki No Sato
2024年4月6日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F
After the hike we had a scheduled taxi take us to the Kamiyama Hot Springs where a traditional Japanese style room (futon, no bed) awaited, but so did the first onsen of the trip.
The meals (dinnerもっと詳しく


















































































