The Shikoku Henro Pilgrimage is a 1,200-year-old journey around 88 Buddhist temples located across Shikoku.
The entire 1,130 km pilgrimage would take forty days on foot, but we’ve created the perfect one-day course to get you started!
Tour the last three temples of the Shikoku Henro Pilgrimage and experience the ancient spirituality of Japan firsthand.
- START
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JR Shido Station, Kotoden-Shido Station
- Time required
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1 day
JR Shido Station, Kotoden-Shido Station- 10-minute walk
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1Shidoji Temple
Shidoji, or the “Temple of Wish Fulfilment,” is the 86th sanctuary on the 88-temple Shikoku Pilgrimage. Located in the city of Sanuki, it welcomes a steady stream of pilgrims nearing the end of their long journey. Shidoji has spacious, forested grounds, and a number of auxiliary halls and other structures. The temple is entered through the Niomon, or Gate of the Guardian Kings, which is flanked by a pair of statues representing fierce guardian deities. These are believed to have been carved by Unkei (1150–1223), a master sculptor of Buddha statues whose work includes several figures now designated National Treasures. The gate itself was donated to the temple in 1671 by the daimyo lord of the Takamatsu domain, who in that year also had a new Main Hall built at Shidoji. The gate and hall are both designated Important Cultural Properties. Another symbol of the temple is its bright red 33-meter pagoda, which was added in 1975. Also of interest is the Muzentei, a dry garden designed by the renowned landscape architect Shigemori Mirei (1896–1975).
The temple’s principal deity is Juichimen Kannon, the eleven-headed bodhisattva of compassion. The statue depicting this deity was carved out of a single piece of hinoki cypress in the Heian period (794–1185) and is revealed to the public on only one day every year: July 16. Another statue at the temple, the Datsueba, is somewhat less elusive. It is displayed on the 17th day of every month in the Datsueba Hall. Datsueba is a character in Japanese folklore who awaits the dead in the Buddhist underworld, where the souls of the deceased must cross the Sanzu River to reach the afterlife. Datsueba preys on those who have crossed, snatching their clothes and hanging them on a tree. She then determines the weight of a person’s sins by inspecting the condition of their clothes, and doles out various punishments before letting her victims pass to the palace of Enma, the king of the underworld, to receive his judgment. Another hall at Shidoji is dedicated to Enma, enshrined in the form of the eleven-headed Kannon. At Shidoji the two are believed to be incarnations of the same deity. The Enma statue can also be viewed on the 17th day of the month.More Details
- 10-minute walk
- JR Shido Station
- "Okawa Bus Honsha-mae" bus stop
- 5-minute walk (or 90-minute walk from Shidoji Temple)
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2Nagaoji Temple
Nagaoji, a temple of the Tendai school of Buddhism, is the 87th site on the 88-temple Shikoku Pilgrimage. Its history is believed to have begun in the year 739, when a priest named Gyoki (668–749) visited the site during his journeys around Shikoku. Nagaoji also claims an association with Kukai (774–835), the presumed founder of the Shikoku Pilgrimage, who is said to have conducted rituals here in his youth before traveling to China to study esoteric teachings. After returning to Japan, Kukai visited Nagaoji again and had its grounds expanded. The ancient halls of the temple were lost to fire and war long ago; the current configuration of buildings dates to the Edo period (1603–1867), when Nagaoji received the protection and favor of the daimyo lords of the Takamatsu domain. The Main Gate, in which the temple bell hangs, was built in 1694 and is one of the oldest surviving structures on the grounds.
Other sites of interest include the East Gate, which was moved to its current spot in 1913 from the historic Ritsurin Garden in Takamatsu, and a monument to Lady Shizuka (1165–1211), a tragic figure whose story has been recounted in many epic plays and chronicles. Shizuka was the mistress of Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159–1189), a warrior renowned for his military prowess, who became a wanted man after falling out with his family. After the lovers parted ways to evade their captors, Shizuka and her mother are said to have visited Nagaoji, where they decided to become Buddhist nuns. The hair Shizuka shaved off to indicate her commitment is believed to be buried under a mound near the monument.More Details
- 5-minute walk
- "Okawa Bus Honsha-mae" bus stop
- "Okuboji" bus stop (or 210-minute walk from Nagaoji Temple)
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3Okuboji Temple
Okuboji, a sanctuary of the Shingon school of Buddhism, is the 88th and final temple on the Shikoku Pilgrimage. Its grounds cover the side of the 774-meter Mt. Nyotai, near the border between Kagawa and Tokushima prefectures, and attract pilgrims as well as casual visitors, many of whom include Okuboji in a tour of the Three Rising Temples—the last three temples on the pilgrimage. According to the temple’s own history, it was founded in the early eighth century, when a priest named Gyoki (668–749) visited the current site of Okuboji during his journeys around Shikoku. The temple also claims an association with Kukai (774–835), the presumed founder of the Shikoku Pilgrimage, who is said to have conducted ascetic training in a cave on the steep, distinctively shaped cliffside behind the Main Hall. In this cave, Kukai carved a likeness of Yakushi, the Buddha of medicine and healing, offered a staff that had passed through the three great lands of Buddhism—India, China, and Japan—and named the place Okuboji (“Temple of the Great Hollow”).
As most Shikoku pilgrims complete their long journey at Okuboji, the temple grounds include a repository for walking sticks that pilgrims dedicate to the temple before returning home. The items in this repository, which is located next to the Daishi Hall, are disposed of ritually by burning them every spring and summer. Visitors to Okuboji can get a feel for the pilgrimage by descending into a room under the Daishi Hall, where 88 statues that represent the deities of the temples along the pilgrimage route are enshrined. Underneath the floor in front of each statue is a bag of sand from the temple enshrining the depicted deity. This sand represents the sacred ground of the temple and allows the person who steps on it to receive the same blessings as a visitor to the actual sanctuary. This miniature pilgrimage was established to accommodate those unable to travel the actual route due to constraints of health or time.
Located some 450 meters above sea level, Okuboji occasionally receives snowfall in winter. In November, just before the coldest time of the year, the temple attracts crowds of visitors who come to view the autumn foliage of the ginkgo and maple trees that grow throughout the grounds.More Details
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