The 61th stage of Pilgrimage, Kouonji temple stay (Ehime)
2024
9/23
The 61th stage of Pilgrimage, Kouonji
TEL : 0898-72-3861Address : 19 kabuto, Komatsucho Minamigawa, Saijo, Ehime 799-1102Access : “JR Iyokomatsu station” > 30 minutes walkParking : There is a parking lotTime : Check-in 16:00 Check-out 8:00Room : max 300 people
Shukubo (temple stay)
It offered all the facilities you would expect. Although I was traveling alone, they let me use a large room. I went to the office to get some change and to buy detergent. I was a little surprised to find out that the person who had responded to me so quickly in a light manner was the head priest.
Compared with the shukubo lodgings I have stayed in so far, the meals were not so good and they only have cakes of soap in the bathroom, while others provide shampoo and hair dryers, etc. People on a group tour were complaining loudly. The bath was large.
The evening service began from 19:00 after dinner. It was conducted in the main hall, which was like an auditorium. Before starting, a nun was moving through the guests holding a tray in her hands. If you pay \100, mention a name and ask for prayer, she prays for the sake of the named person. As the people in the tour group asked for prayers one after another, I also participated. I enjoyed this religious service.
The next morning, I went to worship the principle image in the main hall, which was open from 6:00 in the morning and we were free to get enter. I was enamored with the sutra chanted by a nun and listened to it for a while behind her.
