Day 10 : From Fujieda to Kikugawa

Day 10 : From Fujieda to Kikugawa (19 km)

• Passage of stations :

Station 22 - 藤枝 - Fujieda	Station 23 - 島田 - Shimada
Station 24 - 金屋 - Kanaya

• Road: 

Mizukami, Kamiaojima, Rokugo, Shimada, Kanaya, Kikugawa, Nissaka.

• Visits : 

Kamiaojima (temple), Shimada (Ôijinja the crane temple, Asagao no matsu), Kanaya (Kanayazaka = ichidatami), Kikugawa (Ryuenji & Saigyôhôsh).

• Sleep : 

Kikugawa, just before Nissaka under a shelter (Saigyôhôshi).

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Trip Journal :
 

               Awake at 7.15 am, I leave the mangakisa at 8 am. I get something for my breakfast outside and move fast to the train station to go back to Fujieada. At the train station, I will try to get an JR stamp on my book. Nanbara-san, the JR officer signs my book and stamps it too. But I forgot to ask him if I could take a picture of him. But I know that in general, they don't really like when people take picture of them with their uniform. Anyway, I have a very beautiful stamp now.
 

 

       

22 - Fujieda (Stamp) + (me)

After that, on my way to Shimada, I meet a japanese guy who is walking on the Tokaido too. Takahashi-san walks once a week on the old road. But every of his steps are quite longer than mine because he does not do them one after another but rest for a week before doing the next one. He lived for two years in Paris so we talk about his life there. We walk together for about 5 km and at Shimada train station, we have a break and we leave at different time, on our own.

 

23 - Shimada (Takahashi Shinji)

I am really starving so I find a small restaurant where I eat Ramen. Once the lunch over, I head to Kanaya. I stop and visit a temple that I marked on my map beforehand, Ôijinja. That's a temple with a lot of Cranes. I take a nice pose with one of the character that you can put your head in. This temple is very pleasant, soothing and peacefull. The quietness in this one is different than in other temples I saw.

  

    


 

After that, I continue and just before the bridge, I stop to have a break at Asagao no matsu. As I am really exhausted, I decide to sleep for an hour, from 2 pm to 3 pm. I fall asleep real quick. After this nice nap, I go back to the road and cross the bridge, wash myself in the toilets and change my shorts. Today, the weather is nice but it's really heavy. On the other side of the bridge, it's Kanaya so I ask an old man to sign my book and take a picture of him.

24 - Kanaya (Murai Kinji)

This Pappy thinks I am really fluent in japanese and he starts speaking soooooo fast !! I don't understand the whole thing but I know that he was a soldier in WWII. He also tells me that I have to find a Japanese wife during my trip... haha!! After that, the roads goes steep as soon as I take the paved way (ichidatami). I go very high in the terraces with beautiful Tea cultures. It's like vineyards for us and I was not exptecting to see that many plantations. It is really beautiful despite all the fans everywhere. The fans are used to avoid humidity that could stay on the leaves.

       

At the top of the valley, I go to Ryuenji but this temple is undergoing renovations so I cannot see much. I also missed the huge and famous stone I really wanted to see. I stop at Saigyôhôshi and decide to stay there for the night, under a shelter. The thing is that I pretty much had nothing to eat or drink... And here or around, there is nothing where I can find that. I tell myself : "Nevermind, I will sleep because I m tired".

DAY 9

DAY 11