Temple: Yakuoji

Dedication: I met Torsten on the same camping weekend I met Daniel on and we were pretty much friends straight away. He loves music and gigs and is always up for doing things even at the last minute: perfect. We’ve seen some great bands together, and a few awful ones. I really enjoy spending time with Torsten and look forward to seeing him when I’m back.

Picture: A very makeshift roadside shrine to a Buddhist wisdom God. Shintoism and Buddhism cross over a lot and are mixed in with all sort of other influences. It’s probably a very old shrine.

I’ve been trudging down the highway in the rain all day. I did nearly 40km, just kept my head down and carried on. Temple 23 is supposed to be a spiritual checkpoint. As you move from Tokushima to Kochi prefecture you move from awakening to discipline. I found this temple to be a bit gaudy and didn’t stop to consider, just ploughed on to the next bangai temple.