Day 13 of the Journey

Thursday, December 7
51 km (32 mi) walked, 159 km (99 mi) in total
51 km (32 mi) traveled, 658 km (409 mi) in total        

I had set my alarm for 4:30 am, but I woke up at 3:30, half excited, half scared. I knew that after leaving the hotel, I would have no signal on my phone, so I set up the route beforehand on Google Maps. My destination was a small ryokan in Kawatabi Onsen, a town next to Naruko, where Basho had stayed. The walking trip would take around twelve hours.

I left the hotel at 3:58 am. The way was pitch black, and I used the torch in my phone to light up the way. I crossed the same river I had crossed to get to the seemingly abandoned ramen place, and then I turned right. To my back, in a mountain slope, there was a cemetery full of vertical gravestones. I kept on walking through the night.?

I felt irrationally scared. I kept turning my back on my way, to discover dark nothingness and not feel relieved. I was too spooked to play music or a podcast on my phone. Obscure, tall trees, that seemed ten stories high, moved against the wind. It was cold, but I was walking.

I checked the time every half an hour. 4:30, 5 am. The night persisted and the day would not come. 5:30 am. Still coal black. What if I had crossed a different dimension in which the sun never rose? Who would ever know? I had no signal, there were no people. A couple of scattered houses seemed dead without any light. At 6 I become more agitated. I still held my phone to light up the road, desolate among dark dimness.?

By 6:30 am the sky had gone from total black to dark blue. I could turn off my phone light and see the way.?

At a certain point, and without realizing it, Google Maps lost my route. I still had no signal. I tried to keep calm. I knew I was supposed to continue with the same way for quite some time. But, if I were to take a wrong turn because of not being able to retrieve the route on time, a detour might add another hour or two to my already twelve-hour itinerary. It would mean walking again into the night or, even worse, being too exhausted to continue.

The way went upward, and I started climbing a mountain. I did not know it would not be the first on my way. Now that I could actually see, I was not looking at the ever-growing forest, but the forest was looking into my soul. On the top of the first mountain, the view became even grander. A notification from my phone took me out of trance. I had signal, and I was able to check the route again, this time taking screenshots. Luckily enough, I had not taken a wrong turn.

The only restaurant that was supposed to be open on the way was a family teishoku, or Japanese set meal, restaurant. For the first time in more four days, I was not eating an instant meal. The pork cutlet, gyoza, cabbage salad, miso soup and rice tasted like heaven, and I kept on walking. Five more hours. I crossed a big lake and went through a tunnel. Four more hours. I started climbing another mountain on a dirt pathway. Three more hours. When I reached the top, the sky had turned extremely cloudy and gusts of wind started blowing. Two hours before reaching my destination, a storm unraveled. Rain poured. Leaves flew from tree branches and my tennis shoes got drenched. I kept on walking. I reached the highway bound to Naruko around forty minutes before reaching the ryokan. I finally reached the accommodation at 3:49 pm, less than half an hour before nightfall. I was not aware of the extent of my exhaustion until I sat down in my room.?

I felt extremely fortunate. The ryokan owners gave me miso soup and rice, and other guests struck conversation with me. One offered me coffee and sweets, and later veggies and tsukemono. I soaked in the onsen bath, that fit only one person, did laundry, and read the first half of Haruki Murakami’s Kami no Kodomotachi wa Mina Odoru (All of God’s Children Dance) in the library room.?

I spread my futon, and noticed my two pinkie toes hurt quite a bit. They did not have blisters. Both of them, as a whole, had become blisters.

Walking would become an unfathomable strain in the following days.

Do you have any thoughts or questions about my trip, or are you thinking of coming to Japan? I'd love to hear about it!

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