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- Friday 15 November, 2013
- Weather: Rain in the morning, sunny afternoon, 16⁰C
- Temples: 84-86 (Yashimaji, Yakuriji, Shidoji), 31km
- Accommodation: Azumaya Ryokan 0879-52-2415, next to Temple 87, ¥3,500
I needed to go back to Temple 83 to get the stamp I’d forgotten and this was going to be a 12km round trip! Considering I’d already walked it, I decided to take a train to the closest station. I got the 6:35am train (in heavy rain) and arrived at the temple just as it opened at 7am.
Takamatsu city has one of the 3 best parks in Japan called Ritsurin Koen and I had wanted to visit the day I arrived but it was too late so I decided to go this morning after the temple because the train just so happened to go right past the park. The entrance was free because it was before 8:30am 🙂 It was still raining quite hard, but I enjoyed walking around the beautiful park (think big Japanese garden) with its ponds, carp, autumn colours, tea houses, and moss covered trees.
My original plan today was to get to Temple 88 but in hindsight I would never have made it so everything worked out for the best and as a bonus I got to visit the park.
Temple 84 and 85 were both on top of separate hills so I prepared myself mentally for a hard slog then knew it was going to be a fairly easy walk the rest of the day to 87.
I won’t forget Temple 84 for the following three reasons:
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The elderly lady who gave me ¥200 wrapped up in a tissue.
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The tanuki (or raccoon dog) God
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The path down that almost killed me!