Shoryuji Temple, Number 36, Shikoku

A nice meeting

Travelling from temple 37 to 36 took us through a wonderful remote, hilly and forested landscape with many rice paddies, along with a big bay facing the Pacific Ocean.

Stairs, once again, this time more than 100. Climbing such stairs gives one the feeling of deserving the beautiful temple, nestled in the forest.

This time I met an English psychologist, who was discovering the Shikoku pilgrimage with her two daughters. This led to a discussion of the benefits for mental health (in her view, the crisis of modern times) from experiencing beautiful nature, exercising one’s limbs and contemplating the peaceful and harmonious philosophy of Buddhism.

Shoryuji Temple is said to have been founded after a single-pronged Vajra from the Tang Dynasty, thrown by Kobo Daishi who had been trained in Tang China, was found.

In the middle of the 170 long stone steps leading to the main hall, a beautiful vermilion three-storied pagoda comes into view. Its icon Namikiri Fudo Myo-o is said to have been carved by Kukai (Kobo Daishi) and is said to have the power to ward off disasters at sea.