day 35, 6:22pm, open mind

today was good. i'm clean and i'm relaxed. there haven't been many days when i've gotten all of my chores done before 7pm.
the walk was good. i took a couple ibuprophen (sp?) in the morning to help with the ankle.

i was making pretty good time until temple 74. while i was going through my temple routine (candles, incense, dropping in my name card), a man sat down on the bench next to my gear. he looked pretty suspicious and i've been warned that stampbooks (nokyocho) are sometimes stolen. they are worth about $300 completed (plus the all of the effort to get the stamps).
i kept a close eye on him and when i went to pick up my gear he introduced himself and offered to take me out to lunch. i've been trying hard to keep my schedule flexible and keep an open mind when it came to offers likethis, so i accepted.
he said he'd take me to his friends udon restaurant which was only 10min away. it turned out to be 30min away in the opposite direction, but i kept an open mind. i decided to just let things happen.
the udon was good (not sanuki udon) and the conversation was interesting.
he is a retired tuna fishing boat radio operator (that's where he got his english). he studies shikoku's history and ecomoics in his free time. he is part of an organization which wants to create a single centralized shikoku government (currently 4 prefectures) independent of the japanese government; without the use of guns. :)

he gave me a pretty good tour. he even walked to temple 75 with me. i'm glad i accepted his lunch offer. four weeks ago, i probably would have declined.

temple 75 was cool. it's the largest on the island; birthplace of kukai "kobo daishi" (the shingon sect's founder). it looked very much like a temple complex in kyoto.
under the daishi hall there is a 100m passage way which is not lighted. it is a popular attraction (it also cost 500yen)and i just had to try it. it was total darkness and very much a trust exercise as you followed the wall with your left hand and recite a mantra. it was pretty spooky. it is supposed to be a time to search deep inside yourself. i savoured all 10min and 500yen of it before a group of bus henro came blazing up behind me like lambs to the slaughter. confidence in numbers i guess.

i got set up with a place to stay near temple 75. i'm cleaned up and my ankle is doing ok. i could use a few more "easy" days.

no snakes, distance 19km +detour

night,