{Shikoku Hachijūhachikasho Meguri}

--WALKING--
--LODGING--

Very few henro actually camp out while making this pilgrimage. A few hundred henro may walk the pilgrimage each year, but of those, only a handful camp out every night. The rest of the walkers stay in a minshuku, ryokan, hotel, or one of the temples each night. A minshuku is basically a Japanese Bed and Breakfast. A ryokan is the same as a minshuku, but usually a little more upscale, although there are some ryokan that are no different than a minshuku, and vice versa.

A typical room in a minshuku will cost about ¥6,500 per night. A ryokan will cost ¥7,000 and up per night with the better ones at popular onsen (hot springs) costing ¥10,000 to ¥15,000 per night. The price at both a minshuku and a ryokan will include dinner on the night you arrive and breakfast the next morning. While i haven't done it, Luree Schneider tells me that, when making a reservation at a minshuku or ryokan, you can request a reservation 'sudomari' - that is, with no meals included. According to Luree, this will bring the price of the room down to about ¥4,000. It seems she did this at almost every minshuku she stayed at and saved a lot of money this way. That makes a lot of sense, because between breakfast and dinner, you could eat a lot of food if you spend ¥2,500 at cheap restaurants and grocery stores. But, you won't be eating as well, or as nutritiously.

The price of a hotel room will depend on the type of hotel you stay in. A business hotel is usually nothing more than a very small room where a travelling businessman can spend the night. There is nothing in the room but a bed, a desk (that you can touch from the bed), a TV, and a bathroom. A good hotel can be very expensive and will cost about the same as an upscale ryokan. On the other end of the scale, though, you can usually stay in a business hotel for about ¥5,500 per night (frequently less). The nightly rate in both a hotel and business hotel does not include the price of meals. In fact, many (most?) business hotels don't even have a restaurant.

Many of the temples, themselves, have lodging for henro. Called shukubō, the rooms will be spotless and the food delicious. The price is about ¥5,500 per night but the accomodations are no different than what you would find at a good minshuku or ryokan. And, don't be fooled. Just because the shukubō is associated with a temple, that doesn't mean you are staying in the temple. Many of the shukubō are located in the temple compound, but in separate buildings from the temple itself.

Check in time for minshuku, ryokan, and shukubō is from 4:00 pm and you are typically expected to leave immediately after eating breakfast the next morning. If the weather is bad, or it is obvious that you had a really, really bad day, most minshuku and ryokan owners will let you check in a little early (maybe around 3:00), but i doubt you'll get any favors at the shukubō (isn't that ironic). If you are going to be arriving late because you are walking a long distance that day, it is a good idea to call ahead and let the owner know. They can then plan your meal and bath accordingly.

Breakfast and dinner are always (with very rare exceptions) served family style - i.e., everyone eats together in the dinning room. Breakfast service is between 6:30 and 7:30, give or take, and dinner is usually something lik 6:00 to 8:00, again, give or take. These are great times to meet other henro and to compare stories of the henro trail. If the owner relly likes you, or is just thrilled to have a foreigner who speaks a bit of the language as a guest, she/he may make you a small obento for lunch and throw that in as settai. Believe me when i tell you, it is both impossible to refuse this gift and unwise to try. I tried on a couple of occasions to decline and after giving up the losing battle, was thrilled that i had lost because, completely unexpectedly, i never found another place to eat that day.

When you check in, they will usually show you right to your room, where you then settle in and relax. This is when i went through my notes from the day and wrote my daily journal entry. If they don't tell you when you check in what time the bath will be ready, they'll come get you when it is. This is usually between 4:30 and 6:00. Everyone takes their bath before dinner is served, and it seems quite common for everyone to eat dinner in their yukata. After dinner, you can sit around for a while and visit with other henro, but by nine o'clock most henro are either turning off their lights or getting very close to it. Baths or showers (if these even exist) are not offered in the morning.

All types of lodging except hotels (which will be just like hotels in the west) are operated in traditional Japanese fashion, which means that you eat in a common dining room, use chopsticks, eat Japanese food, use a common toilet, use a common bath (but not always at the same time as other people), and sit and sleep on the floor.

I've been asked about the bath, so let me make a comment about that here. Japanese bathing habits are very similar to those of us in the west, except that we take showers and they take baths (But remember - you wash outside of the tub and only soak in the tub afterwards. No soap is ever taken in the tub.). Men bathe separately from women. While parents may bathe with their children at a young age, that stops as the kids get older. In general, families don't bathe together. As in the west, at home, bathing in Japan is an individual activity. However, at the public baths found in minshuku, ryokan, sentō, onsen, etc. public bathing still prevails. There will be large public baths where people of the same sex will bathe together. I.E., there will be one large bath for males and another for females. Mixing sexes is prohibited, but you are expected to share it with others of the same sex. Once you get used to it, it is enjoyable. You meet some very interesting people that you might not meet elsewhere.

All but a handful of henro make the circuit during the months of April and May. Therefore, during these two months it can be very hard to get a room at the temples and somewhat difficult at lodging located very near the temples. If you plan on going in the spring, it seems best to make as many of your reservations as possible in advance. Having said that, though, for the walker this may not be possible. It is too hard to predict your pace over a period of two months so these people will be making reservations day by day, or week by week, as they walk around the island.

I have read that during the summer and fall a lot of the lodging is closed since there are so few henro on the road. Apparently, even some of the temples close their shukubō. While you will still be able to find a room somewhere, your choices will be limited. However, as the temples aren't as crowded with bus henro as they are in the spring, the odds of getting a room at the one's that remain open may be greatly improved.