第六日 篠栗八十八ヶ所 (3)

 

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今日はホテルの窓から見ると、朝からお日様がでていて、暑くなりそう、と思った。

案の定、夏の日差しの中をせっせと歩く。幸い４分の３ぐらいの行程は木漏れ日の中で、最後の４分の１だけがアスファルトの駅に向かう道だった。朝８時から約４時間で約２００００歩強、山道を１６ｋｍ歩いた。私達の今回の歩き旅は、遍路旅というよりトレッキングというニュアンスが強い。

自分の体力でどこまでできるか試している。毎年「まだ出来るかな？」と思いながら歩くが、やはり自分のバランス感覚が悪くなっているのを山道の上り下りで感じる。

山道は特に降りるとき、怪我をしないように、一瞬の間にどこに足を着地すれば安全かを判断する訳だが、それを一目見て頭で瞬時に判断する人間の能力を―我ながら？！―素晴らしいと思う。

（特に）徒歩旅に怪我は禁物、足を怪我したが最後、旅は即時中断の憂き目にあう。今回も無事、徒歩旅の部を終えられたのも、千手観音さま、十一面観音さま、薬師如来さま、大日如来さま等々に頭を下げて歩いたお陰なのでしょう。

12時０５分に徒歩完了！万歳！（ワルターが四国の旅でさんざんお世話になった？ジョイフルというチェーン店で）まずは腹ごしらえをしてから、大宰府天満宮にむかう。こんなに一度に沢山の人に会うのは久しぶりと思うほど、観光客でごった返している境内。この大宰府人気はどこからきているのか？なんと本堂は修理中で、面白い（屋根に木々の生えた）仮の本堂がその前に建てられており、本堂の修理が終わった暁には取り壊されるようだ。

修学旅行の学生もたくさんいて、とても落ち着いてみられる雰囲気ではないので、早々に引き上げ、唐津にむかう。夕方から夜にかけて、ホテルから見える唐津城まで往復したら、今日の歩数はやはり30000歩を越えた。唐津の海に面したところに建つお城の景色は昼も夜もとても魅力的だ。

The last day of our hike begins with the same old ritual: The train pulls out in front of us. This only makes us even more determined to complete the last 17 kilometres. The first few kilometres are up the same route and then we take a different route up to around 600 metres. As we ascend, we look at the mountain on the opposite side, which we climbed the day before yesterday. On the way we saw a new retirement home (see picture). I'm thinking about booking a place here 😁

As we walk, we wonder who chiselled the thousands and thousands of Buddha statues out of the hard granite. It must have been a job for countless stonemasons over the centuries. On closer inspection, however, you realise that the brand new statues are made by some kind of "copying machine". They look the same down to the smallest detail.

Despite the many beautiful moments in the last three days, we are glad that we have successfully completed our first JOINT pilgrimage. Stop! To my shame, I have to confess that I made a serious mistake as "chief navigator". In the eagerness of our hike, we completely overlooked Temple No. 22. Something like that shouldn't happen to a professional pilgrim, should it? But walking another 6 kilometres there and back was a bit too much for us.

We drive to Dazaifu, about 40 minutes from Sasaguri. The shrine is famous for its beautiful building - which can only be glimpsed in disguise for another two years due to renovation work.

There is also a huge plum tree that is over 1,000 years old and a statue of an ox whose horns have been rubbed clean by all the visitors. Back then, 1,000 years ago, he drove his master to his grave on a cart and refused to go. He lay down on the grave and waited for his own death. A kind of "Hachiko" from Shibuya.

From Dazaifu we drive along a lonely country road over high mountains to Karatsu. There is supposed to be a beautiful castle there that we haven't seen yet. We'll have to make up for that today, won't we?