Arriving from Kyoto we stayed in Takamatsu, the entrance port to the island of Shikoku, mostly known for its 88 temples which are traversed on a pilgrimage path by Buddhist believers. The path as such is around 1500 km long and quite arduous in places, yet many Japanese do it (or parts thereof) anyhow. We were not so much interested in the path as such as the temples as they are usually worth looking for (splendid, very different every time).

As I got my German driving license translated in Kyoto (yes, we have to do this and then you can drive…) we were able to rent a car which is an advantage. Just parking can be a bit tricky… You drive in, the car is rotated and then you drive into a circular lift

Dormy Inn hotels have a nice fashion – they serve a soup at 09:30 – 11:00 pm free of charge. I love noodle soup…

Eating in general is principally easy – if you don’t mind the smoke everywhere. Being more on the countryside smoking is the norm in most places In this place it didn’t matter too much as the barbeque smoke was thick anyhow

So next day we started our trip to the countryside exploring the mountains

Don’t worry – you wouldn’t be in Japan if this river wasn’t channelled thoroughly

The old bridge is still working, just the state was a disgrace… Very slowly, please…

One step at a time

These used to be everywhere over the rivers and gorges

Well, I wrote about the state…

Roads are narrow and winding – always watch out for an approaching car

Lush landscape

A mountain resting place (tatami rooms for 20 )

with nice people! In general people are more relaxed in Shikoku and very friendly. Not too much English (which is anyhow the norm in Japan), but helpful and easy going. This women is chopping ferns

The homemade soup is just lovely

It gets lousy cold in winter – you are at 1700 m altitude…

Views are very nice but in general the touristic routes are very touristic So nothing like unspoilt nature – not possible with so many million visitors every year!

The next day we headed for the temple of Zentsuji – number 72 on the list.

For larger groups as a small Japanese a ladder is essential

Very different style of images

The frog’s corner

Beautiful and peaceful

This artist hasn’t seen a real elephant…

In general the images are far more Indian than typical Japanese – much more details, finer chiselling

Just look at the faces

There is a whole gallery of them

Prayer mills

The wheel

And the main temple – very spacious and very peaceful. Just enjoyable!!

Towering over the surrounding buildings

A typical pilgrim

The facial expression matching the statues around (see below)…

1000 year old camphor trees

Just melting in with the background

Sorry – no doggy poo allowed…

And now the main attraction – some 400 figures of sacred persons as cartoon… Just enjoy the faces, mimics and expression

Our favourite (among perhaps 20) one: