@wanderfulrevolution: **Temple 61 — Kōon-ji** Kōon-ji sits in Saijō, and the descent from Yokomine-ji brings the pilgrimage back down from the intensity of the Mount Ishizuchi approach into flatter, more accessible terrain. The temple is dedicated to Dainichi Nyorai, adding another stop to the cosmic Buddha's recurring presence across the route, and its history includes a notable administrative complexity — for a period, the temple's main hall and its worship hall were separated between two different sites before later being reunified, similar in spirit to the disruptions seen at Zenraku-ji and Nankō-bō earlier in Ehime. There's a settling, almost relieved quality to Kōon-ji's position in the sequence, much like Byōdō-ji felt after Tairyū-ji's intensity back in Tokushima — a temple that asks little physically right after one of the route's hardest climbs, offering recovery rather than further challenge. The recurring pattern of separated and reunified temple sites across Ehime and Kōchi points to something structural in the pilgrimage's history worth noting for the documentary — the 88 temples as they exist today are not simply ancient sites preserved unchanged, but institutions that have been repeatedly reshaped by disaster, administrative reform, and practical necessity across centuries. From Kōon-ji, the route continues toward Temple 62, Hōju-ji, still within the Saijō area. #japan #88templepilgrimage #shikoku #longdistance #walking

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Monday 07 September 2026 06:59:24 GMT