Day 56 - Kagoshima To Kajiki Aira, With Views Of Sakurajima Volcano, The Kyushu 108 Temple Pilgrimage, Japan
Day 56 - Kagoshima To Kajiki Aira, With Views Of Sakurajima Volcano, The Kyushu 108 Temple Pilgrimage, Japan
The walk from Kagoshima to Kajiki Aira town, where Temple #43 is located, is along a narrow coastal road with one lane in each direction, and mostly no sidewalks.
Traffic was heavy and trucks zoomed by us.
Vegetation has overgrown into the road, which we had to avoid by walking often into the traffic lane.
Oh, how I miss the days when more people were walking in Japan, and there was always good road maintenance and cutting back of overgrown vegetation and grass…
The walk is mostly along Kinko Bay, with views of Mount Sakurajima, the massive active volcano that erupts daily and seems to be floating in the bay.
To my surprise, there are many houses in the foothills of the volcano and even some on the slopes.
In the few nights we stayed in Kagoshima, I saw Mount Sakurajima erupt three times.
The eruptions at sunset were the most spectacular, coloring the sky in crimson red hues.
We started the day with a good breakfast at our comfortable onsen hotel in the center of Kagoshima City.
It was a breakfast set, not a buffet, like they serve in Ryokans (traditional inns).
The night before, we were asked to choose a set breakfast meal, and I chose a breakfast with hot tofu, and not much fish.
We headed out into the crisp, cool early morning air.
We stopped at a combination food truck and farmers market, which was set up along the road.
We crossed over to see what was happening, and found some delightful food on offer, ranging from chiffon cake to onigiri to cookies, all very high quality and handmade by people who clearly didn’t expect to make a lot of money, but just to make and sell some of the best things they were good at making.
We bought some of almost everything, since we didn’t bring any food with us and also needed to replenish our snacks to have with tea in the next few days.
We always love to support people in farmers markets who grow organic foods or make and sell their own foods.
Along the coast, we looked for a place to sit, rest and drink our tea.
The only thing similar to a bench we could find was an old fiberglass boat that was left upside down by a fishing spot.
We sat on the boat and had tea and cookies.
Temple #43, Gokokuyama Hojoin is a small temple, along the national highway in the city, but the smoke of the burning incense sticks of the worshippers is constantly fluttering.
Hojo-in Temple is located in Kajiki Town, surrounded by beautiful scenery.
The principal image of worship is Fudo Myoo (Hibutsu) who fulfills the wishes of worshippers and removes their suffering.
In addition, you can see many Buddhas in the precincts, such as "Eunmei Jizo Bosatsu,” whom people pray to for good health and longevity, and "Koyasu Jizo Bosatsu,” whom people pray to for the safety and development of their children.
While we visited the temple, a family with two young children came to pray.
They were seated in a small room next to the main hall where we sat, separated from us by a rice paper shoji door.
The tiny pink shoes of the babies were left outside on the steps, alongside the black polished shoes of the dad and the red shiny shoes of the mother.
While we chanted the Heart Sutra, I could hear the youngest child cough many times, and I realized that he had a persistent infection that wasn’t clearing up, so the family dressed in their best clothes and came to pray to the Buddha for healing.
I said a silent prayer for the child and the family.
The chief priest is called Shogen, a monk of the Koyasan Shingon sect. He is a single person with no family, although he had a lovely woman as an assistant who helped stamp our book and served the family tea.
In the temple’s statement, Shogen the monk said:
“I would like to laugh, cry, suffer, and live in today's world with you.
So please come and visit me.”
After visiting the temple, we continued our walk.
We passed by many businesses along the main road leading to Route 10, the coastal road that connects Aira and Kagoshima.
We were wondering if Route 10 was always this busy, or perhaps if it was busy because it was the weekend and more people were driving around instead of being at work.
The road winds along the coastline, with sometimes spacious sidewalks, sometimes narrow sidewalks, and sometimes with none at all.
We decided to take the bus back to Kagoshima, but at the last minute got off the bus at Inari-Cho in north Kagoshima.
A few days ago, when we visited the northern Kagoshima temple, located near a famous shrine, a garden and an old Shogun residence, we didn’t have the time to visit this area.
We were getting a little tired, and when I saw many people visiting the garden, dressed in beautiful kimonos, and the sign of a Starbucks cafe, we got off the bus.
The Japanese Garden is a major tourist attraction, but the Starbucks cafe, located in a white colonial house, was clearly attracting more visitors.
It had comfortable sofas and many women in lovely Kimonos eating cheesecake and drinking black coffee.
I sighed to myself.
I loved their beautiful Kimonos, so elegant and shimmering, discreetly revealing gentle bespoke designs and different colors on the inside, as the women walked.
Kimonos are flattering to every body shape.
No woman looks fat in a Kimono.
They all look beautiful.
Oh how I wish I could wear a beautiful Kimono instead of my moisture-wicking utilitarian outfit, that is only suited for walking all day long….
We rested in the comfort of the Starbucks, until the muscles of my legs felt better.
At least this Starbucks had available seats, unlike the ones in town, which were almost always packed with high school kids doing their homework.
We returned to Kagoshima after dark.
It was our last night in the city, and we had a choice of where to eat our last dinner.
Good Japanese food is always available on the road, but we knew that a good soup-curry is almost never available outside of Hokkaido.
The weather cooled off significantly after dark, and the warmth and fragrance of the soup curry was a pleasant end to the day.
In our hotel, we showered and soaked in the hot springs, and slept well in our Japanese Tatami mat room.
I love the aesthetics of Japanese rooms empty of furniture and with the very few exceptions of really old and thin futons, I love sleeping on comfy futons on the rice mat floor.
Sending you love and prayers,
Tali
Stats: 29,817 steps
Today’s walk: 21 km
Kilometers walked to date: 952
Temples visited:
Temple #43 Gokokuyama Hojoin (Goku-san, Hojoin)
