A Walk Around Shodoshima
Day 6, To the Great Kannon
Saturday February 6th

Due to a combination of my own schedule and lousy weather forecasts, it has taken a month for me to be able to get back here to Shodoshima so I can finish the last leg of my walk around the island on the Shodoshima 88 Sacred Sites Pilgrimage.

This sixth day of my walk the weather is set to be fine for walking and I am based in Tonoshima and will use the local buses to get back and forth to my various starting points. Today I start from Tonosho and start to head up the western side of the island.

The first temples on the route are across the narrow channel and I can see them from my hotel, but to get to them I must walk into the town and cross the bridge across the Dobuchi Strait and then walk out again.
Once I get to the other side I sit and have a little break and a small car stops and I am given the all too common interrogation: "Where are you going"" "Where are you from"" etc etc. They tell me they have a guest house and I am welcome to come and stay tonight free of charge. I politely decline as I have already paid for my room at the hotel and that is where my luggage is, so then they invite me to come for lunch.

I scribble down the phone number but don't tell them that I don't have a cellphone, as to finish the walk in time I can't afford the break. They drive off and I head up a back street to find the next temple, number 61, Jogen-an, a small place of just tw...