2 whole mountains. 

Ok, maybe one and a half.

I started off my day with a wonderful breakfast and got prepared.  I gave my host’s son a Gritty sticker, and in return, he gave me some candy with an encouraging note.

My host then took me to Tempe 11 – Fujiidera. It was a nice small temple just outside of town around some agriculture.

Then my host drove me to the halfway point to Temple 12 – Shōsanji. I am forever grateful he did. I have skied easier mountains than the ones I walked yesterday. I love skiing, but I also love chair lifts. In college, during my brief time in Vermont, I did walk up an adjacent mountain to ski since the rope tow was broken, but these mountains I hiked I would not have tried to ski down. At some points, I felt like I was walking in a dried up streambed or waterfall. Steep, slippery, and narrow. My walking stick paid for itself yesterday.

Ok, enough complaining. The views were incredible.

4 people passed me on the trail. Which, again, 15 years ago, my ego wouldn’t have allowed it. I moved to the side and let them go. I have let my ego go, and I wasn’t in a race. I was enjoying the views and solitude when I wasn’t struggling to find a good place to step down.  I almost ate it a few times. Going uphill taxed my breathing, going downhill, taxed my ankles.

But I made it, and if you like incredibly made statues, this is the place for you.

After Temple 12, I had a 2 hour walk down the mountain again, but I walked through a wilderness protection area. I saw one person in that 2 hours. There were a few houses in the middle of nowhere and a few that the wilderness took back.

Made it to the bus stop, and I missed the bus by 5 minutes, which was the amount of time I went into a store to grab some juice. The bus stop was at the corner of a cafe, and I went in and met Masa. Nice guy, I gave him a Gritty sticker, and he gave me a sticker of him,  one of the bar and his bands business card. Sunbrellas in the rain. I am going to check them out.

He is a big punk fan and a big Allen Iverson fan, too. So we talked for about half an hour. I asked him to share some Japanese punk with me, so he is going to send me that through Instagram. 

I took 2 buses to get to my hotel, did some laundry, and slept for 5 hours.

Temples 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 today. All pretty close and in the center of town. Temple 13 is across the street, so it’s an easy start to the day.