After having a japanese style breakfast (with rice 🍚 , misoshiro 🥣 and vegetables) we started our second day with a short walk to temple number 6, Anrakuji (安楽寺) and right after to temple number 7 Jūrakuji (十楽寺), where we met Flynn, a fellow pilgrim from Australia. The first of the two highlights of the day was temple 8, Kumadaniji (熊谷寺), which was surrounded by beautiful trees 🌳 and even-more-beautiful Sakura trees. Temple 9 Hōrinji (法輪寺) followed. Since it was already past noon, we were all starving on our way to the next temple and tried to stop by a bakery that Google Maps pointed us. There was no bakery to be seen but, while asking a random local for directions, we were surprised by our second and most exciting highlight of today: we were invited to his family home 🏡 where we had the chance to meet a lovely couple and their three boys (14, 12 and 9 years old). They offered us a ride 🚙 (which we politely refused) and plenty of fresh water 💦. While we were having a chat with them at their home, they told us that today was the husband’s mom’s birthday: she was turning ninety years old! For our surprise, she showed up 👵🏻 and we could wish her happy birthday 🥳🎈 in person! We left their home with a smile on each one of our faces and headed to our final temple of the day. A steep stairway climb led us to temple 10 Kirihataji (切幡寺).

We still had 7km to go until our hostel so we decided to stop at a local supermarket to refuel ourselves and rest a little bit. We arrived at our destination for tonight, had a well deserved shower and ofuro (where Maike learned that the mirror wasn’t too low so you could see down there, but rather because you should shower seated 🪑and therefore, see your face in the mirror) 😂

Para fechar nosso dia com chave de ouro 🔑, we decided to eat ramen 🍜 in a Chinese restaurant. Maike guided us there and… we ended up entering the wrong door and going to an Indian restaurant by accident. So, we had no ramen but daal with naan instead. No complaints here 😋! What a day!

Bruno 💫