第十三日 松山 - 雲辺寺 - 観音寺 - 善通寺 - 倉敷

クリック

今日もワルターが知っている四国を私に見せる旅になった。ワルターのお気に入りのお寺雲辺寺、ここは５００体ぐらいの羅漢さんの群像が圧倒するお寺。

日本人離れした顔あり、鬼の様な顔ありで、一つずつが個性的な顔をしている。次が観音寺市にある銭形砂絵、４００年ぐらい前に初めて作られた砂による寛永通宝、楕円だそうだが、上から見ると丸に見える。

大名を喜ばすために始められ、以来毎年作り直され、補修されているらしい。札所である本山寺と善通寺も見学。どちらにも五重の塔があり、センサーをつけ動きを記録しているという研究をしているとあり、そこに私が以前働いていた木造建築関係の団体の数人の先生方の名前を見つけた。懐かしい・・・先生方、まだ頑張っているらしい。

瀬戸大橋の中間のパーキングエリアの展望台で橋や周囲の島々、山々を見た後、さぬきうどんで遅いお昼とする。

これで四国ともお別れ、明日は直島で一つ美術館をみて、帰路につきたいと思う。

We have to change our travel plans. It was with great sadness that we learnt yesterday that Yumiko's friend from university,had died suddenly. Yumiko wants to say goodbye to her on Sunday in Funabashi.

We will therefore not be travelling to Kyoto to see Hiei-san, but will visit Naoshima briefly tomorrow and then drive home at night.

Today is purely a "pilgrimage day", as I show Yumiko some of the highlights from my two hikes. First there is Unpenji (No. 66), the highest temple at just over 900 metres. 

After a boring drive on the motorway, we take adventurously narrow paths to just before the temple. Hardly anyone but us drives up here. Most visitors take the (fastest) cable car in Japan. The Unpenji is famous for its countless stone figures. 

Stone masonry must have been a highly esteemed (and well paid?) profession in the past. The statues are all donated by donors. Their names are engraved.

The road down is another adventure. Winding and narrow. And what is the only vehicle we encounter for 8 kilometres: a big truck! We pass each other with a gap of a few millimetres.

In Kanonj we are looking at the biggest coin of the last 400 years! That's how old the coin (Zenigata Suna E) is, which the inhabitants once scooped out of sand for the daimyo. It has a diameter of 125 metres! Every year on New Year people “repair” the coin. I was last here with Maja on our bicycle tour in 2007.

Then we go to temple no. 70 (Motoyamaji). The pagoda there has been restored for years. Yumiko reads the explanation of this project and finds a couple of names of specialists she knows from her previous work. They have installed sensors in the tower to measure and record even the smallest movements of the pagoda.

To round off our "temple day", we head to Zentsuji, the birthplace of Kobo Daishi, the founder of the Shikoku pilgrimage route. It is the largest and most important temple for believers. 

Where three years ago I would have stood in a long line of visitors, today I am the only one - with Yumiko, of course - to pass through the 100 metre long, narrow and pitch-black "prayer corridor" under the main building. You are supposed to feel your way along the wall with your left hand and continuously pray the following without interruption:

“Namu Daishi Henjo Kongo”. (I follow my master Kobo Daishi) 

We pray our hearts out! Maybe it will help to blow away all our worries!