Japan
Shikoku Pilgrimage
Eighty-eight temples circling an entire island — walk it and your sins dissolve.
The white coat marks you. Eighty-eight temples circle the island of Shikoku over 1,200 kilometres of mountain paths, coastal roads, and forest trails, and the pilgrims who walk them wear white as a symbol of readiness for death — because the journey, traditionally, was not expected to be survivable. The modern route takes 30 to 60 days on foot, and every step is still a commitment.
The Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage follows in the footsteps of Kūkai, the 9th-century monk who founded Shingon Buddhism. The route passes through all four of Shikoku's prefectures, traversing fishing villages, mountain passes, river gorges, and Pacific coast headlands. The tradition of o-settai — offering food, shelter, or small gifts to pilgrims — remains strong, with strangers routinely providing meals and accommodation without expectation of repayment. Each temple stamps the pilgrim's nokyōchō book, and completing all 88 earns a visit to Kōyasan to report to Kūkai's mausoleum. Pilgrims range from Buddhist devotees to grieving parents to retirees seeking purpose.
Solo
The pilgrimage is fundamentally a solo act. Walking 30-60 days alone through an island, depending on the kindness of strangers, dismantles assumptions about what you need.
- Eighty-eight temples circle the island over 1,200 kilometres — the full walk takes 30-60 days.
- White-clad pilgrims receive stamps, meals, and shelter from strangers practicing o-settai hospitality.
- The route passes through fishing villages, mountain temples, river gorges, and Pacific coast cliffs.
- Walking alone for weeks strips everything back — many pilgrims describe it as the hardest and best thing they've done.
Henro-meshi pilgrim meals offered free by locals along the trail — rice, pickles, kindness.
Sanuki udon at every other corner on the Kagawa stretch, thick and impossibly chewy.
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