The path beginsbefore the first step.

With the clothing, more than my appearance changes. It marks the passage into a space removed from everyday life. I return as someone who has set foot on this path – not yet fully a Henro, but with an awareness that has shifted. The temple grounds suddenly feel denser. My gaze comes to rest on the HondōHondō 本堂
The main hall of a Buddhist temple, where its honzon is enshrined and venerated.: broad stone steps, massive beams of dark, warm wood, and large paper lanterns bearing the inscription 四国第一番 – Shikoku Number One.

We exchange no words. Two pilgrims in white, joined by the same direction. The distance between us remains. When he stops before the temple and I arrive shortly afterwards, our shared path ends. For a short stretch we were a community – my unknown, silent companion and I.

Before the altar, an iron grate marks the boundary to the space beneath the hall. It is an unfamiliar sight. Elsewhere, a wooden Saisen-bakoSaisen-bako 賽銭箱
Offertory box into which visitors place a coin as an offering at a temple or shrine. – an offertory box – usually receives the visitors’ coins. I throw a coin through the grate. A clear metallic note rises from the depths. It spreads through the hall and gradually dissolves into the silence.

Then I take the last three incense sticks from my bag. They stand, as is often explained, for past, present and future. The long road has marked them. Some are broken, their edges frayed. In these traces the distance travelled seems preserved: cold morning hours, wide temple courtyards and the bag opened again and again.

I light them from the flame of my candle. Fine threads of smoke rise. The traces of the road become part of the offering. And as they slowly burn down – Namu Daishi Henjō KongōNamu Daishi Henjō Kongō 南無大師遍照金剛
A mantra expressing devotion to Kōbō Daishi. Namu conveys homage or the taking of refuge. Henjō Kongō may be rendered as “the all-illuminating Vajra.”.

After half an hour I reach Ishite-ji. At the TemizuyaTemizuya / Chōzuya 手水舎
A pavilion with a water basin near the entrance of a temple or shrine, where visitors purify their hands and mouth before prayer. I let the cold water from the ladle run over my fingers. First I cleanse my left hand, then my right, then my mouth.

A temple attendant sweeps the forecourt. He works with a care reminiscent of tending a stone garden. The even stroke of the broom carries far.

I pass through the NiōmonNiōmon 仁王門
A temple gate guarded by the two Niō, who protect the temple precinct.. Beyond it, the wide temple courtyard opens up with the Hondō, the DaishidōDaishidō 大師堂
Temple hall dedicated to Kōbō Daishi, traditionally visited after the Hondō. and the great bronze VajraVajra / Kongōsho 金剛杵
A ritual implement of esoteric Buddhism symbolising the indestructible power and clarity of the teaching.. The first rays of sunlight warm the centuries-old wood of the great pagoda.

At the entrance, I meet the older pilgrim couple again. A smile, a bow. I follow them through the gate at a respectful distance. They cleanse their hands and rinse their mouths at the Temizuya before walking towards the ShōrōShōrō 鐘楼
The bell tower of a Buddhist temple, housing the bonshō.. The man draws back the ShumokuShumoku 撞木
A horizontally suspended wooden beam used to strike a bonshō. and lets it swing gently against the BonshōBonshō 梵鐘
A large bell, usually cast in bronze, at a Buddhist temple. It is sounded by striking the designated panel, the tsukiza, with a wooden shumoku.. A deep tone fills the temple grounds. The couple remains still, heads bowed, until the sound fades. Only then do they continue to the Hondō.

At several earlier temples, I struck the bell out of gratitude as I left. Later, I learn that such a strike is avoided as Modori-ganeModori-gane 戻り鐘
The ringing of a temple bell after worship or while leaving the temple. In Henro practice, this “returning bell” is considered inauspicious and is therefore avoided., the “returning bell”. The bell announces arrival.

The couple, whom I meet for the second time that day, shows me the proper order without a word.