September 1-3, 2007 - Southern Shikoku

From Mt. Domu, we took several trains down to the southeastern end of Shikoku. Cities turned into towns, which then turned into hillsides and vistas – no more people and it was great! Japan, more than any place I have been before, makes me treasure wide open spaces with no signs of civilization. I suppose I had it quite good growing up in Wyoming. Any matter, we arrived at the tiny train station in the town of Kannora and were actually quite early, so I phoned the minshuku (Japanese for guesthouse) and in about 15 minutes, a nifty looking minivan that read “Da Hawaiian Kitchen” pulled up. Our minshuku is run by Ten, who is from Osaka. He is an older surfer dude who is super nice and laid back. He also runs the Hawaiian themed burger shop/restaurant/internet café next door, thus the advertising on the minivan. Our room is a traditional Japanese tatami room with an air conditioner that works splendidly, thank god, for the temperature down here is a bit hotter than I expected.

Minshuku Ikumi is in a sleepy town called Toyo. There really are no stores, except for a few surfboard rental shops and a hotel on the way to the beach. It is beautifully situated at the foot of huge green hills and boasts a sandy beach that leads out to turquoise waters. When Dan and I stepped out onto the beach, I immediately felt like we were on a completely separate vacation somewhere tropical. I knew the next few days would be relaxing and wonderful.

We strolled up and down the beach, in utter shock at how many surfers and/or people with surfboards who merely floated about in the water and never even attempted to catch a wave. There were at least 200. Granted it was a Saturday, but it was literally the most packed seashore I have ever seen. There were maybe 20 people on the actual beach. Quite a sight! We collected some seashells, then headed to grab dinner, which was a HUGE burger – the yokozuna – which I mistakenly ordered, thinking it would be normal sized (Japanese portions are sometimes quite small, especially Western foods like burgers, I have found). This one was so big there was no hope that I could finish it. Along with French fries, it was really the first taste of “home” I had eaten in some time.

The next morning, we awoke and headed back downstairs to da kitchen for breakfast, which was similarly in western style. We needed the fuel for a long day of beach-going. I had my 50spf sunscreen in hand, along with borrowed beach towels. The surf was equally crowded as the day before, but there was plenty of room on the beach, so we had no problem setting up. It was only 10 o’clock and already smoking hot, so we pondered where, if anywhere, would be best to swim, considering the plethora of surfers. We found a bit of a hole and headed out. The water was warm yet refreshing, but it was indeed difficult to swim because we were constantly watching out for rogue surfers headed our way!

Back at our towels, I slathered on additional sunscreen, owing to my very fair skin, and we hung out for a good long while. After swimming twice more, we headed to a covered outdoor restaurant for lunch. I felt a little toasted, but still good. We ate lunch and tried to keep cool, although it is difficult not to sweat in Japan at any given time, I have found. The air conditioning in the room was too tempting to resist, so we headed back. And good thing we did, for as the hours past, a peculiar and very uneven sunburn began to develop all over my body. Dan became quite red as well, and we began to realize just how intense the sun is here.

Dinner was delicious, prepared by Ten at da kitchen, but tonight it was hamachi sashimi, my favorite, a whole fish called “sanma,” and various side dishes. Dan looked scared at first, but he liked all of it. I am so proud at how easily he has adapted to eating things he never would in the past. Oh, the delights of Japanese cuisine.

Monday morning we knew we could not repeat the events of the day before and sit on the beach. Although what I thought would be an awful burn surprisingly receded a lot, the backs of my legs were still tender. I had other plans in mind, though. The island of Shikoku is home to the pilgrimage of Buddhist temples devoted to Kannon. There are 88 of them, and many pilgrims complete the entire route, often by foot, every year. We hopped on a bus headed down to Muroto, a small town further south near a cape. It was a beautiful ride, full of coastline. After a bit of confusion with the bus driver as to where exactly we were heading, he dropped us off at a seemingly deserted memorial structure of sorts. The heat enveloped us as soon as we exited the nicely air conditioned bus, and I worried I had made a mistake.

We continued on, though, up a rough and narrow path that led straight up a huge mountainside. I knew the temple we were headed to was up some sort of ascent, but this looked intense. To add to that, as soon as we began the climb, Dan walked right into a spider web and had a HUGE spider crawling on his face. Have I mentioned yet how prevalent, huge, and neon the spiders are here? Gives me the chills. He recovered gracefully from the “attack” and found a machete-like stick to ward off lurking spider webs. We must have been quite a sight: two tall, profusely sweating Americans whacking at almost invisible webs up a steep hillside.

Although the journey was very rough and by the top we both had commented that we had never sweated so much, we reached pilgrimage #24, Hotsumisaka-ji, which is extra special, for it is the location where Kobo Daishi gained enlightenment. Kobo Daishi, post-humously called Kukai, was a very important leader of Esoteric Buddhism who founded the pilgrimage. He is considered along the same lines as a saint in Western religion. The temple was simple and beautiful. I tried to imagine all the sweat and dedication of not only people who make the trek up there, but the people who brought the materials to build a beautiful pagoda and other structures. We later realized there was a road on the backside, but I know that Kobo Daishi and the earliest pilgrims had no such conveniences. The sheer exhaustion of the hike up was overwhelmed by the feeling of the place. I wrote a memorial tablet for my Dad, and we lit incense and prayed. Dan snapped pictures and we tried to cool down before descending.

The way down was easy, as expected, and we walked along the coastline for a bit afterwards, despite grueling heat. The sea stacks and tide pools were gorgeous. We also went to a nearby Kobo Daishi memorial recognizable by a huge statue of him. There was also a gold statue of the Buddha lying on his side. It was pretty spectacular. After walking around the feet of the huge Kobo Daishi structure, we took stairs that we thought led back down, but actually led to a room under the statue. Small lights dotted the ceiling, making it look like a starry night. Someone was chanting from the center of the room, although a wooden screen made it impossible to see him. We were a bit nervous to step inside, but the entire wall of small Buddha statues made it hard not to! The hidden room made perfect sense, considering the esoteric forms of Buddhism with which Kukai was so interested. It was magical.

We left to catch the bus afterwards, and were greatly disappointed to learn it would be almost 2 hours of waiting time. We grabbed ice cream, and I called a cab. 7000 yen later (about 65 bucks!) we arrived back at Minshuku Ikumi, and all we wanted to do was sit in the AC for a bit.

We grabbed lunch at a tiny cafe while browsing through manga (Japanese comic books) and drinking mugi-cha (barley tea), and then headed to the hot beach so that Dan could try his hand at body boarding. I was not brave enough and didn’t want to expose my overly sensitive skin to anymore damaging rays, so I listened to my IPOD and watched Dan. The body boarding was quite brief, as the waves were quite big and there was a strong undertow that led towards nasty looking rocks, but I was proud of him. We walked the beach before dinner and marveled at the amazing orange sunset and collected seashells. Then we headed to dinner, another even more delicious affair, this time featuring baby tuna sashimi (so buttery!) and tempura, Japanese eggplant, rice, etc. Gochisosamadeshita! (You say this after a filling and pleasant meal).

We leave for the island of Honshu tomorrow, but will do so with fond memories of our time on Shikoku.