My Shikoku Henro Tales Part 3 - Ryozen-ji, temple 1 Tokushima Prefecture

A walk of 10 or 100 or 1,000 kilometres starts with one step.  Bright and early on a hot day in September,  we took our first step towards our Shikoku pilgrimage.
As we had just 8 days in Shikoku, we would not be able to cover all 88 temples nor would we get
to travel all 1,400 kilometres around the island but we would try to visit as many as we could.
We also made it a goal to visit at least one temple in each of the four prefectures of Shikoku --
in our own way, we would be "circumnavigating" the entire island.

The JR Kotoku Line from Tokushima Station was our first ride of the day.  We took it to Bando Station, and from there we walked to as many of the temples in the area that we could visit.  

On our first day, we would visit temples one to five and would walk a total of twelve kilometres. 

Bando is just twenty minutes away from Tokushima -- we got off at an unmanned wooden station.

where the driver had to get off  the train to collect everyone's tickets as they disembarked.

Ryozenji or temple number one was just a kilometre away from the station.  We walked through the back roads until we reached the highway from where we could easily see the top of the pagoda of Ryozenji.  

I felt a ripple of excitement -- my long dreamed of pilgrimage was well and truly underway!  However, pragmatist that I am, I also knew I while I was walking to temple number one, I was also walking towards the end of my pilgrimage.  I wanted to appreciate and delight in each and every moment of this experience. 

Walking by asphalt roads is not my idea of a relaxing walk.  However, we did enjoy the roadside views of brilliantly green rice paddies with stalks ready to be harvested.  Most of the available land that we passed by was planted with rice and it seemed that every household has its own rice field to take care of. 

It's impossible to miss the gate of Ryozenji as it is right in front of a pedestrian crossing.  You can 

also take a bus from Tokushima Station which will is double the length of time of the train ride but will drop you right by the temple gates. 

As we walked through the wooden gate, we first saw this koi filled pond.  Behind it  is the Daishido or Daishi Hall. 

Ryozenji was established in the 7th century by the monk Gyoki more than a hundred years before Kobo Daishi,  founder of Shingon Buddhism was born.  

Kobo Daishi visited this temple in the 9th century.  All of the temples on the 88 temple pilgrimage are associated with him.  He is said to have visited each and every one of them and the pilgrimage is done in his honour.   

This is the Hondo or the main hall.  This is where you leave your ofuda slips and recite the sutras.

The statue of the main deity  is said to have been carved by Kobo Daishi. 

After reciting the sutras at the Hondo, the next stop is the Daishido or Daishi Hall, dedicated to 

Kobo Daishi. There is a statue of him sitting patiently by the steps, waiting in silence for all the pilgrims who come by.  

The henro believes that Kobo Daishi walks with him during the pilgrimage.  The pilgrim's belief is in "Dogyo Ninin" or "two walking as one".  I am sure he was with us, every step of this journey. 

There are many things to see around the temple.  We spent some time walking around and enjoying the peace and quiet.  Although it was mid morning, we did not feel any rush to walk to the next temple. 

While September is not exactly the best time to do the pilgrimage as the temperature is hot and humid, it was also not peak pilgrimage season so we were spared the bus loads of henro who would normally be crowding the temples. 

This little marker would be something that we would see in the temples we visited.  It says 

"May peace prevail on earth".  It was a nice thing to think of -- perhaps by walking on this pilgrimage, we would be adding our own prayer for peace. 

P.S

For each of the posts on the temples we visited, I will end with a photo of the temple seal inscribed in my nokyocho. I will also include a photo that I took of the temple which may not always resemble the sketch in the nokyocho, sumimasen. 

This is a photo of the page in my nokyocho showing the seal of  Ryozenji.  On the page across it  

is a sketch of Ryozenji's wooden pagoda.   And above it is my (not so faithful) re-creation of the 

same scene.