Japan Pilgrimages Shikoku Tokushima

Day 6: Children’s Day

Since we’re so close to Tokushima City we decided to have a bit of break today and recover from the past weeks exertions (although we still ended up walking 12km).

Making bamboo stilts
Bamboo stilts

May 5th is Children’s Day (kodomo no hi こどもの日) in Japan and at Tokushima Central Park there were scores of kids taking part in various activities with their parents, including building cool bamboo stilts!

Rock devil

Beware of rock devils.

Omote Goten Garden

Inside the park, we also visited the Omote Goten Garden (旧徳島城表御殿庭園) which lies in the grounds of the former Tokushima Castle.

Omote Goten Garden
Dry landscape garden

It contains an immaculate dry landscape garden (karesansui 枯山水) as well as a pond garden.

Man ploughing field

After a lunch of delicious handmade udon, we made our way back to Kannon-ji (観音寺 – 16) and continued to follow the henro trail to Ido-ji (井戸寺 – 17) about 3km away.

Carp streamers

On the way we came across a couple of beautiful carp-shaped windsocks known as Koinobori (鯉幟) are traditionally flown to celebrate Children’s Day.

Ido-ji temple
Ido-ji

Ido-ji was pretty quiet except for a few other henro and we went through the usual routine fairly quickly. I noticed they have a small room that henro can stay in for free.

Tonight we’re sleeping at Sakai Taxis again and will hit the road in the morning. Rain is forecast so it should be a good learning experience even if not much fun.

Information

Distance walked: 13 km / 23,000 steps (rest day)
Temples visited: 17
Overnight lodgings: Sakai Taxies (国府タクシー) – Zenkonyado

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Author

Originally from the UK, David is designer and wanderer currently based in Kamakura. Prior to this, he lived in China and longs to explore more of this vast and varied land. He started Randomwire in 2003 to chronicle his travels and occasional musings. Feel free to drop him a line.

6 Comments Add New Comment

  1. Wendy says:

    Every morning I read your post before start my day feeling I was there too. Thanks for the beautiful photos.

  2. Athena says:

    You survived rainy season. Omedetou! By the time I reached Kagawa in late July, almost all the tours disappeared. But I’m glad you’re back in the comforts of the city now that the heat waves are settling in.

      1. Athena says:

        Like everything else in Shikoku…you just keep going. hahaha. Drink lots of water. I preferred the heat to the rain honestly. What about you?

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