Temple: Yokomineji – quite a struggle up a high mountain, one of the steepest climbs, but a beautiful path. The promised thunderstorm managed to mainly hold off until I reached the top.

Dedication: Leon lives and teaches yoga in the Hutt. I met him in Wellington where he recommended his amazing mysore-style ashtanga class to me. It was great to find someone to endlessly talk about yoga with without boring him (too much) and fun to practise together as well. I hope you’re well Leon.

Picture: there are an incredible number of vending machines in Japan and plenty in Shikoku. They haven’t got them onto the mountain paths yet but perhaps they’ll be arriving from this vending machine nursery/graveyard I passed.

I had a good evening with Toppo a couple of nights ago after the miseryguts incident. We went to an onsen together and stayed in a nearby park that the owners allowed nojuku pilgrims to sleep in. He’s gone to stay with a friend who lives nearby for a while to rest and recover but we swapped some music first. He had an amazing Japanese rap version of the heart sutra.