Shikoku Pilgrimage

Information

Distance

1200.0 km

Duration

30–60 days

Max elevation

972 m

Country

Japan (JP)

Difficulty

Very strenuous — a 1,200 km route circling Shikoku Island; total ascent of 24,000–29,000 m; 85% paved roads; the most challenging sections are between Temples 11–12 (called Henro Korogashi) and throughout Kochi Prefecture (Temples 24–39)

Best Season

March–May (spring, most popular) and October–November (autumn, more stable and cooler weather)

Permits & Fees

No permit required; stamp (osame-fuda) and incense fees at each temple ~¥500–¥1,000; accommodation varies: shukubo (temple lodging, ¥7,000–¥15,000 including meals), minshuku, and zenkonyado (free lodging offered by local residents)

Description

The Shikoku Pilgrimage (Shikoku Henro) is one of the world's most celebrated Buddhist pilgrimages, covering approximately 1,200 km around Japan's Shikoku Island and visiting 88 temples associated with the 9th-century monk Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi). Pilgrims — called o-henro-san — traditionally walk wearing white robes (hakui), a sedge hat (sugegasa), and carry a staff symbolising Kōbō Daishi's ever-present companionship (dōgyō ninin, meaning 'travelling together'). The full circuit takes 30–60 days on foot, with roughly 24,000–29,000 metres of total elevation gain spread across four prefectures — Tokushima (Temples 1–23, Awakening), Kochi (24–39, Ascetic Training), Ehime (40–65, Enlightenment), and Kagawa (66–88, Nirvana) — reaching a high point of 972 m at Unpenji (Temple 66). A defining cultural hallmark is o-settai, where locals spontaneously offer food, drinks, or money to passing pilgrims as a form of spiritual merit. No permits are required, and thousands of zenkonyado (free pilgrim lodges offered by residents) line the route, making this 1,200-year-old circuit accessible to all who seek it.

Trail Highlights

Circling the island of Shikoku through 88 Buddhist temples associated with the holy monk Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi) of the 9th century; the o-settai tradition in which locals give food, drink, or money to pilgrims as an act of spiritual merit; the concept of dōgyō ninin (walking together as two with Kōbō Daishi); wearing the white hakui robe and the sedge sugegasa hat as the identity of an o-henro-san; the highest point at Unpenji Temple (972 m, Ehime)