Entering Nirvana
This week, I crossed over into Kagawa Prefecture and officially entered the fourth and final phase of the pilgrimage: Nehan, or Nirvana. It feels surreal that the end is now approaching so quickly. Somehow, time seems to flow differently on the trail. It feels like I’ve been walking for years, with everything I’ve experienced and seen, yet it also feels like time is suddenly speeding up in these final weeks.
Let’s start where I left off in my last post. After leaving Saijō following my visit to Maegami-ji (64), there was a stretch of about 50 km without any temples. On the 21st of April, I reached Shikokuchuo—not my favorite place on Shikoku, to be honest. There was a lot of concrete and asphalt, and the coastline was completely dominated by a paper factory. The next day, I made my way up to Sankaku-ji (65), which was a nice climb.
Instead of going over the mountains to Unpen-ji (66), I took the train to Kanonji, where I stayed for two nights so I could visit all the temples in the area, including Unpen-ji. I started with Jinne-in (68) and Kannon-ji (69), which share the same grounds.
Unfortunately, the next day was very rainy, making the ropeway ride up to Unpen-ji shaky, and the temple visit a bit spooky, as the mountain was partially covered by clouds. After walking down to Daikō-ji (67) in the pouring rain, it was time to call it a day.
On the 24th of April, I made a bit of an error in judgment regarding distance and elevation. My plan was to visit temples 70 to 75, but I underestimated the climb up to Iyadani-ji (71) and the time it would take to get down to Mandara-ji (72). In the end, I skipped the descent by taking a taxi. All in all, it was still a 27-kilometer day. I ended at Zentsū-ji (75), the birthplace of Kōbō Daishi, and I was lucky enough to stay at the shukubō (temple lodging), where I was able to join the morning ceremony the next day.
Saturday the 25th was a bit more relaxed in terms of distance and number of temples. Konzō-ji (76), Dōryū-ji (77), and Gōshō-ji (78) are all situated on the edge of Marugame City. Most of the 20 kilometers were through urban areas and not especially interesting.
On Sunday, after first visiting Tennō-ji (79), I had a nice climb up to the Goshiki-dai Plateau. I again went out of numerical order and visited Shiromine-ji (81) and Negoro-ji (82) before descending and ending the day at Sanuki Kokubun-ji (80).
And that makes another 18 temples visited, 36 recitations of the Heart Sutra, and 120+ kilometers on the trail. Next week, I will most likely finish my Henro pilgrimage. It will also be Golden Week here in Japan, so hopefully I’ll have something to celebrate—fingers crossed 🤞🏼
