Meanwhile, Gord was having his own lovely walk after a refreshing break at an osettai station. I somehow missed the lovely lady who drags pilgrims off the street and plies them with iced coffee and cheesecake. Apparently she was disappointed that I didn’t make it, as she had already heard about me and my bike and seen my picture on Facebook. I heard from another henro that after completing the pilgrimage 30 times she moved to the route so that she could offer osettai to the passing henro. I was thinking about this as an excellent retirement plan for myself.
I might have missed the cheesecake, but just after the mountain pass I was warmly greeted by an old man. About ten minutes later he chased me down in his truck, honking. He jumped out and gave me 200 yen.
A rock that Kobo Daishi allegedly dragged in a net, leaving a fishnet pattern on it.
These three henro all claim to be over 70. If they are not lying than they are doing something very right in Japan.
