The Shikoku Pilgrimage: 88 Temples, 1,200 Kilometres

The Shikoku pilgrimage is a circuit of 88 Buddhist temples around the island of Shikoku, about 1,200 kilometres long. It is associated with Kukai, the monk who founded the Shingon school of Buddhism in Japan and is known after his death as Kobo Daishi. He was born on the island in 774, at the place where temple 75, Zentsu-ji, now stands, and the temples are held to mark sites where he trained or taught.

The pilgrim is called a henro, and the word is also used for the journey itself. Unlike most pilgrimages it has no single destination. It is a loop, and the walking is the point.

The route

The temples are numbered clockwise. Temple 1, Ryozen-ji, is at Naruto in Tokushima prefecture, in the north-east of the island. Temple 88, Okubo-ji, is at Sanuki in Kagawa prefecture, on the north-east side of the island. Some pilgrims walk the circuit in reverse. In between, the path runs down the east coast, around the two long capes of Kochi on the Pacific, up the west coast through Ehime and back along the Inland Sea.

Each of the four prefectures is given a meaning. Tokushima, with temples 1 to 23, is the place of awakening. Kochi, 24 to 39, is the place of discipline: the temples are far apart and the coast is exposed. Ehime, 40 to 65, is enlightenment, and Kagawa, 66 to 88, is nirvana. Many pilgrims finish with a visit to Mount Koya in Wakayama, the headquarters of Shingon Buddhism, where Kukai is believed to rest in meditation, to report that the journey is done.

How it is done

On foot the full circuit takes between 30 and 60 days, and 40 to 50 is usual, at 20 to 30 kilometres a day. A minority walk it. Many of the pilgrims met at the temples travel by car or coach, and some do the circuit in stages over several years. All ways are regarded as valid.

The traditional dress is a white jacket, a conical sedge hat and a wooden staff. The staff stands for Kobo Daishi, who is said to accompany every pilgrim. At each temple the pilgrim washes, rings the bell, lights incense and recites a sutra at the main hall and again at the hall dedicated to the Daishi, then takes a book, the nokyocho, to the temple office, where it is stamped in red and inscribed with a brush.

What distinguishes Shikoku is osettai. Local people give pilgrims small gifts: fruit, a drink, a place to rest, sometimes a meal. It is an act of devotion on the giver’s part, a way of taking part in the pilgrimage without leaving home. It is never to be expected, and it is not refused.

Walking a section

A visitor with three or four days can walk a meaningful stretch. The obvious choice is the beginning. The first temples in Tokushima lie close together in a farming valley, a few kilometres apart, and several can be visited in a single day on level ground. Pilgrim equipment, including the jacket, staff and stamp book, is sold at and near Ryozen-ji. Further on, the climb to temple 12, Shosan-ji, is the first hard mountain stage and is a test of intent.

Other walkers choose the temples around Matsuyama in Ehime, which can be combined with the old bathhouse of Dogo Onsen, or the final temples in Kagawa. Lodging is in small inns, guesthouses and in the lodgings that some temples keep for pilgrims, with dinner and breakfast included.

For travellers

Spring and autumn are the seasons. Summer is hot and humid, and winter is cold in the mountains with short days. The route is waymarked with signs, stickers and stone markers, but a map or navigation app is advisable, and much of the way is on roads. The Kumano Kodo is the better choice for anyone who wants forest paths and village inns over a few days.

Shikoku is reached by bridge from Honshu at three points; one of them carries the cycle route of the Shimanami Kaido.