Hi, first time post. Thanks for the wealth of inf on the forum and the web. I'm in Shikoku now. There is something strange going on at temple 62. Starting at temple 60, there is a board by the nokyocho office showing times between temples. It all makes sense except for the fact that it says that walking from temple 61 (the weird modern one, Kouonji) to 62 will take 1 minute. My prep said it was 1.4 km. Fast henro! But sure enough, after a few steps there is a sign for 62 and a parking lot. There you'll find a makeshift cabin with an alter and it's manned by monks. I got my nokyo there. Then later, you get to a building that looks like 62, has the Shikoku road sign. I went in out of curiosity. People at the office were not monks, and told me that the other 62 was a fake. They offered to put the 'true' nokyo at the back of my book. After the fact, they said it was 600 yen. I had of course pulled out 300. The guy apologised with the smile of a crook. I knew I'd been had. Then at 63, the monk subtly checked my book at 64. I think to be sure I had the correct seal.
So something is not right there. It's like the monks have been thrown out of their temple and that temple 62 is currently being run by crooks. I'm not bothered by that seal at the end of my book. Bad karma will be on them for actively swindling an honest henro. But anybody on the trail should beware!
Pat
So something is not right there. It's like the monks have been thrown out of their temple and that temple 62 is currently being run by crooks. I'm not bothered by that seal at the end of my book. Bad karma will be on them for actively swindling an honest henro. But anybody on the trail should beware!
Pat