that this story teaches has been kept alive among villagers, who gather often to observe the various events of the temple calendar.
If you are finished for the day, you can reach Yokoze Station 横瀬駅 according to the signposts. The easiest way might be to backtrack to the irregular crossing and turn right. At the station, two timetables are shown on the wall in Japanese and English. The larger one is for the Red Arrow expresses, many of which stop at this small station. The schedule of local trains is shown above, either for going back to Seibu Chichibu, or, for Hannō where you should transfer to another train for Ikebukuro. You may also walk back to Seibu Chichibu via Route 299 in about 20 minutes.
Time and energy permitting, you may wish to visit two more temples (which will also reduce the remaining itinerary for those desiring to complete the entire pilgrimage). To do so, go left around Temple 9 to Route 299. Cross over to the pink and gray building, which houses the community center. Your direction is to the left. If you wish, a short visit at Yokoze Folk Museum 横瀬民俗博物館 behind the community center might be interesting to learn about life at the foot of Mt. Bukō.
➩ Exhibits include specimens to show amazing varieties of flora and fauna in Mt. Bukō as well as a collection of silk farming and weaving tools used by local farmers. There are also examples of the Yokoze ningyō puppets and a miniature model of the stage. Visitors will be first attracted by the real size replica of a shell for traditional fireworks and an antiquated, deep red inner shrine of the mountain-top sanctum dedicated to the god of Mt. Bukō.
After you cross Route 299 by the community center, turn left (or, coming from the museum, turn right along Route 299). Again, the hissing traffic is such a nuisance, but there is no alternative for the time being. You will pass an elementary school on the right and cross a small bridge. If you wish to spend the night in this neighborhood, there is a ryokan called Bukō-no-yu 武甲乃湯 located along the smaller road to the right of the school. Continue along the highway and, just before a Mitsubishi gas station on the left side of the road, turn right by a beauty parlor. At a four-road crossing with a large black-and-white sign indicating the nearby junior high school 横瀬中学校入ロ, turn left and walk straight. On the right of the road are seen high-voltage electricity towers. When the road meets a larger road, cross over to a smaller road which curves to the right. Keep to the left. The road will turn and lead to a small intersection, where a signpost stands, pointing to the left for Temple 10 札所 10 番. Follow the sign, and you will soon see an old Jizō statue meditating on a high pedestal.
| Suggested Itinerary | |
| 8:30 a.m. | Depart Ikebukuro Station via Red Arrow Express |
| 10:00 | Arrive Seibu Chichibu Station (E: 90 min.) |
| 10:30 | Arrive Temple 1 (E: 30 min.; S: 10 min.) |
| 11:20 | Arrive Temple 2 (E: 40 min.: S: 10 min.) |
| 11:50 | Arrive Kōmyō-ji (E: 20 min.; S: 10 min.) |
| 12:40 p.m. | Arrive Temple 3 (E: 40 min.; S: 10 min.) |
| 1:10 | Arrive Temple 4; lunch (E: 20 min.; S: 30 min.) |
| 2:00 | Arrive Temple 5 (E: 20 min.; S: 20 min.) |
| 2:50 | Arrive Temple 7 (E: 30 min.; S: 20 min.) |
| 3:20 | Arrive Temple 6 (E: 10 min.; S: 10 min.) |
| 3:50 | Arrive Temple 8 (E: 20 min.; S: 15 min.) |
| 4:30 | Arrive Temple 9 (E: 25 min.; S: 10 min.) |
| 4:50 | Arrive Yokoze Station (E: 10 min.) |
| 5:20 | Arrive Seibu Chichibu Station for return to Ikebukuro |
Note: E stands for time en route; S for stopover time. This first-day itinerary is very packed. Those who wish to complete it at a more relaxed pace should take the 7:30 a.m. Red Arrow for Ikebukuro Station. Or, you might wish to split it into two: Temples 1 through 4, and Temples 5 through 9 or 10. To start your day at Temple 5, take a taxi or ride the same bus as for Temple 1 to Goka-bashi 語歌橋; backtrack a short distance and turn left, and then right to come to the Kannon hall on your left (need to double-check). To go to Chōkōji, take the next right.
卍 Temples 10 through 18
Starting once again from Seibu chichibu Station, tell the taxi driver Jūban, in Chichibu meaning Temple 10. The taxi driver will stop at a large Jizō statue on a high pedestal. You could also take the bus for adamite-Milano (from bus stand two in front of Seibu Chichibu Station) and get off at Fukazawa 深沢. Backtrack a little and take the right fork to arrive at the statue of Jizō on a pedestal. Go up the steep stone stairway behind the statue and walk through the weathered, roofed gate of Temple 10, DAIJI-JI 大慈寺.
When I first visited Daiji-ji, an old woman in a house near the Jizō was sewing zabuton (floor cushion) covers. She told me that she made a cap and bib for Jizō on the last Sunday of February every year, so that he would be ready to meet the first wave of pilgrims in the spring. She also informed me that women in the neighborhood get together to sew saru (stringed, stuffed figures), every Year of the Horse (1990; 2002, and so on, in the twelve-year cycle of the Oriental zodiac). These are special years for the pilgrimage temples from the association of Kannon and the horse, and they open their inner shrines to visitors. (What they actually do is fix a large colorful rope between the inner shrine and the outer portico, so that pilgrims can hold one end of the rope and be symbolically joined with the Kannon inside.) The women used to hang the chains of saru from a Japanese umbrella to create a large decoration in the Kannon hall. Nowadays, traditional-style umbrellas are expensive and hard to find, so a plastic ring usually used to hang laundry is substituted.
Daiji-ji is a quiet, attractive temple that enjoys enthusiastic support from the neighborhood. The simple Zen-style building has sliding doors covered with senja-fuda, origami figures, sutras written on paper, and many other small items donated by pilgrims. Inside is a beautifully carved altar, where lighted candles are offered. On both sides of the altar hang silk banners decorated with gold and silver phoenixes. A gently worn, carved figure near the doors on the left is a god in folk belief called Obinzuru-sama, originally, an Indian saint Pindola. This saint is supposed to have saved many ill and suffering people with his medical knowledge and skill. Worshipers therefore rub the parts of the statue that correspond to their own ailments, praying for a cure. Wherever you see Obinzuru-sama, his statue is smooth and shining. Temple inscriptions may be obtained in the building on the right.
Bidding good-bye to the Jizō, turn to the right. At the traffic lights, bear right and walk some distance toward the large I intersection at Route 299 and turn right (the diagonal road to the right just before the 丅 is a shortcut.) On the hill the other side of Route 299 is Hitsujiyama Park. Continue about five hundred meters, hugging the hill on the right and passing two traffic lights. To the right just past the second light, half hidden behind a house, you will see a stone torii. A stone pillar to its left marks the entrance to Temple 11, JŌRAKUJI 常楽寺. From the entrance road, Chichibu City can be seen beyond a cement factory and Route 140 ahead. The well-cared-for Kannon temple was rebuilt in 1880 after the original edifice from the Edo period, complete with a front gate guarded by niō guardians, was lost to a fire. Deprived of its past glory, the modest temple continues to withstand heavy pollution from the mundane world below. Temple inscriptions may be obtained from the building just before the Kannon hall. If there is no one around, ring the small bell
