Shikoku Pilgrimage 四国遍路
A Shikoku local international couple with 4 rounds of Shikoku Pilgrimage completion by walk.
This is a day-by-day report of our latest Shikoku Pilgrimage with information only locals know, following the longest, most nature-rich, route to visit all 88 temples plus Bekkaku 20 temples.
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The life-changing walking over 1400km on the Shikoku Pilgrimage
Before my husband, Erik, and I started hiking together, I had done a few solo long-distance hikes in Japan. The first one, the Shikoku Pilgrimage, was why I got hooked on hiking, especially on old/historic trails. The sixty-day walk literally changed my life. — Not only did I start walking on other historic trails, … -
Day 20.2 of the Shikoku Pilgrimage: T21 Tairyuji 太龍寺 & the Oldest Trail
Day 20 continued with the climb through Shikoku’s oldest recorded pilgrim trail, the Kamo-michi, and the long descent from T21 Tairyuji down the mountain. Between 14th-century stone markers and legends of flying monks and crawling rocks, the day was full of history and humor. We passed white limestone slopes, sacred halls, and the peaceful forests where Kūkai once trained, before tackling the forgotten Kitaji-michi—rough, unmarked, and silent except for wind and cedar. By sunset we reached our inn at the foot of the mountain, ending one of the toughest yet most beautiful days of the pilgrimage. -
Day 20.1 of the Shikoku Pilgrimage: T20 Kakurinji 鶴林寺
Day 20 of our Shikoku Pilgrimage marked both a return and a beginning. With all travel logistics finally behind us, we could focus only on walking — and what a stage to start with. The mountain routes leading to T20, between T20 and T21, and on toward T22 are known among pilgrims as some of the toughest and most beautiful in all Shikoku, but for us they were also home ground: the trails we helped clear and walked countless times with local volunteers. This day brought steep climbs, stone-paved relics, and quiet villages we knew by heart — and an encounter that, though we didn’t know it then, would quietly weave itself back into our later pilgrimage. It was a proper farewell to the mountains where our pilgrimage life once began.