88 Temple Shikoku Pilgrimage - Day 6

Day 6 - Thursday, 2016-04-07

Iya Valley / Matsuyama

We woke up to a rainy day. Breakfast was at 7:30 and typical Japanese food. Got on the bus immediately afterwards  and drove almost 3 hours  to the the first temple of the day. We are back on the pilgrimage trail.

We are visiting temples 46 to 51, they are all in the outskirts of the Matsuyama city, one of the largest of the island, so it will be mostly flat and walking along suburban roads and streets. It rained all day long, sometimes just a drizzle, other times it poured. But it was not too bad, the visit to six temples made it interesting.

Below is a Jizo statue at Temple 46 (Joruru-ji). I am always fascinated by these statues, found in all Buddhist temples I have seen in Japan, I am intrigued by the reverence of the faithful in providing the statues with a  knitted cap and a bib to keep the deity protector of children, Jizo, warm.



Pilgrims performing the prescribed rituals at temple 46:







Temple 47 (Yasaka-ji):













Our group waits in the rain to cross the street. There was no traffic, but no one jaywalks in Japan:




Temple 48 (Sairin-ji):






Temple 49 (Jodo-ji):



Fully decked out pilgrim group guide at temple 49:



Pilgrim lighting incense sticks at temple 49:



We had to do a dash to the last Temple, temple 51, to reach it before 5 PM when the office that stamps the pilgrim's book closes. We barely made it.

Wooden tablets inscribed with the wishes of faithful asking for grace (Temple 51, Ishete-ji):



Delio and Erico, wet but still in good spirits at the end of the day, at Temple 51:



We were bused to downtown Matsuyama.  We are staying in a typical drab, uninteresting business hotel, smack in the commercial center of the town. Efficient, clean, confortable, but no character.