Ryozen-ji Temple — Local services in Naruto

A pleasant temple with a friendly restaurant next door. Mostly what I wanted to leave a comment about is that there's a ton of information out there on starting a proper Henro pilgrimage but a good portion of the visitors were clearly doing what I was doing--a kind of casual visit to the first few pilgrimage temples as a teaser/taster--and I'd seen no information on that.

Some notes from my experience:

From Bando station there's a sign saying "pilgrims follow the green line" (painted on the road). It could not be easier to navigate. Get the Henro Helper app, it has some suggestions that Google Maps won't. For example, when leaving this temple cross the road and follow the green line back but turn right instead of going back to Bando station. This leads you down a pleasant backstreet instead of trudging along the highway breathing in the exhaust. Approaching Konsen-ji (#3) there is a path departing from the road which is both a shortcut and a nicer trail to the temple's back door. This is in the app, but it also highlights the importance of keeping your eyes peeled for pilgrim signs, usually with red arrows, pictures of pilgrims or the text "へんろ" (henro). These are everywhere you might get confused, keep your eyes peeled. I saw some pilgrims ahead of me on the road who had missed the very clear sign for this turnoff. Konsen-ji is the last temple that's really close a train station, but it's a real shame to stop there because the next section to Dainichi-ji (#4) is much nicer, with some reasonably long segments through bamboo forest that feel like real trails, rather than suburbia. Also a giant camphor tree at the base of a staircase up to a shrine. If you want even a taste of the pilgrim experience you owe it to yourself to not stop at three as I had seen suggested in another comment. If you've started in the morning, the path from Dainichi-ji to Jizo-ji (#5) will take you past a fancy bakery where you can reward yourself with a cream puff. A short while later at Jizo-ji you can pay a small amount to walk the halls housing its collection of 500 arhat statues, which I think makes for a great climax to a short walk if you don't want to continue on. There's an easy bus to Itano Station, but that only brings us to about 8km total so you can also just walk back. I saw about 50/50 visitors in pilgrim getup vs just in hiking gear. I was in the latter camp since I decided I was a tourist and not a pilgrim. No need to stress about it if you are not doing it seriously. Even though this route is mostly in suburban Tokushima I still saw three snakes in two hours. I believe all innocuous rat snakes rather than pit vipers, but still: pay attention...

The first temple, and I'm not starting anything. Yeah, I'm guessing in my own strange way, I'm on the Henro. I'll probably make no more than 15 temples on my circle of the island. It can be overwhelming. I guess the Henro is all about Shingon Buddhism and Kukai - I'm clueless. They always use the word esoteric when describing this school of Buddhism. I keep looking this word up over and over but it's still unclear to me. I guess I prefer Jodo Buddhism the most. I kept saying the nembutsu over and over while I was here. なむ あみだ ぶつ. And I also kept saying: Mappo to Jodo. マッポから浄土まで. Hey check this out: I saw a protein deficient beautiful girl over and over - first on the train, then the walk from the station - at this temple as well. She didn't smile or even acknowledge me. Maybe she thinks I want something from her that I probably don't won't can't. When I see a girl like this, it's still unclear to me about what to do when I know I shouldn't do or think anything. I think this is because I could've gone to school with her grandfather. Why am...

It’s beautiful and the temple is well looked after. But don’t buy your gear at the temple shop next door. I’m not sure who owns it, the temple or an Independant owner. I walked the pilgrimage for 44 days, everything was destroyed except the staff. Cheap paper for the prayer slips. Bag fell apart within days. The pilgrim walking staff did okay. First time it rained the purple ran from the tassel on the beads, covering me in purple dye. Incense carry case broke. This is a wonderful opportunity to promote Japanese manufacturing and craftsmanship, which is great, but instead they sell you badly made items that likely offer a better margin. The shop misrepresents Japan and the pilgrimage, so sad, that this has been overlooked, it could be a wonderful...