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).
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!
Beware of rock devils.
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.
It contains an immaculate dry landscape garden (karesansui 枯山水) as well as a pond garden.
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.
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 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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