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Shikoku: The Island of Four Countries

October 14th-November 14th, 2001

Shikoku is an island of legend.  Oh, it really exists.  But as a friend told me, it seems imbued with mystery.  Every tree, every stone, seems to have a legend attached.  Many of these center on Shikoku’s most famous son, the monk Kukai who later became known as Kobo Daishi, or “Great Teacher/Saint Who Spreads Widely the Buddha’s Teaching.”

The Daishi (he is the Daishi among many others) is said to have established the Pilgrimage to the 88 Temples of Shikoku.  Scholars dispute it; believers don’t care.  That he lived here is certain; that he traveled extensively, and practiced religious rigors throughout the island, is also certain.  Whether it was he or his followers (the members of the Buddhist Shingon sect) somebody established the pilgrimage, securing this smaller-than-New-Jersey island’s place in World Buddhism.

As the stories surrounding the pilgrimage developed, the four provinces of the island each took on an attribute related to the pilgrim’s progress.  These are:

• Tokushima Prefecture (formerly Awa Province): The Dojo (training room) of Awakening Faith

• Kochi Prefecture (formerly Tosa Province): The Dojo of Religious Discipline

• Ehime Prefecture (formerly Iyo Province): The Dojo of Enlightenment

• Kagawa Prefecture (formerly Sanuki Province): The Dojo of Nirvana

In this age of pilgrimage by train, bus, and car, the significance of this progression may have been lost.  But friends tell me that recent televisions specials in Japan have centered on the idea that pilgrims are walking again, in greater numbers all the time.  This is a sign of hope.

• A summary table of the 88 Temples
• An Index to Words-and-Pictures pages made on Shikoku
• A Guide to the Gallery of the 88 Temples

THE LOGBOOK:
Where I went, What I saw
Other Logbook Stages: Prelude Old Tokaido Yamato Postlude

• The Route: Temples 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, (06)

• The Route: Temples 06, 07, 08, 09, 10

• The Route: Temples 11, 13, 14, 15, 16

• The Route: Temples 17, 18

• The Route: Temple 12
• Words and Pictures: Emma-O and the Judges in Hell

• The Route: Temples (19), 22, 23

• The Route: Temples 19, 20

• The Route: Temples 21, Bangai

• The Route: No temples today!

• The Route: Temples 24, 25

• The Route: Temples 26, 27, 28

• The Route: Temples 29, 30, 31, 32

• The Route: Temples 33, 34, 35, 36

• The Route: Temple 38

• The Route: Temples 37, 39, 40, 41, 42

• The Route: Temples 43, Bangai

• The Route: Temples 44, 45

• The Route: Temples 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51 and two Bangais
• Words and Pictures: The Sons of Emon Saburo

• The Route: Temples 52, 53

• The Route: Temples 54, 55, 56

• The Route: Temples 57, 58, 59

• The Route: Temples 61, 62, 63, 64

• The Route: Temples 60, 65

• The Route: Temples 66, 67
• Words and Pictures: 500 Rakkan and A Family Shrine

• The Route: Temples 68, 69, 70

• The Route: Temples 71, 72, 73, 74, 75

• The Route: Temples 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, Bangai

• The Route: Temples 81, 82

• The Route: Temple 83

• The Route: Temples 84, 85, 86
• Words and Pictures: The Shichifukujin and The Shitenno

• The Route: Temples 87, 88

• The Route: Temple 1

RESOURCES: The guidebook I will use is in Japanese, but the maps are easily understood.  It’s called Shikoku Hachijuhachi Kasho O Aruku, and it’s by the “Henro Michi Hozon Kyoryoku Kai,” the name of a pilgrimage group.  Other excellent guidebooks include Ed Readicker-Henderson’s The Traveler’s Guide to Japanese Pilgrimages (in English) and Manganji’s green guide (in Japanese), available from Koji Junrei Company, 9882-1 Tennodai, Choshi-shi, Chiba-ken 175, JAPAN.  This company publishes guides for over 20 other pilgrimages in Japan; the easiest way to get them is at temple #1 on any particular route.

Online guides include those by Jeffrey Hackler, Akiko Takemoto and Steve McCarty, David L. Turkington, and Don Weiss’s Echoes of Incense (with a resources page).

The classic book on Shikoku’s pilgrimage in English is Oliver Statler’s Japanese Pilgrimage.  I’m almost embarrassed to write about my experiences after reading this book.  A not-so-classic but entertaining book is Tales of a Summer Henro by Craig McLachlan.

For the religious perspective on the pilgrimage, nothing comes close to A Henro Pilgrimage to the 88 Temples of Shikoku Island Japan by Bishop Taisen Miyata.  He’s a Shingon Buddhist priest in Los Angeles who first performed the pilgrimage on foot in 1955.  He has since guided numerous tours of American Buddhists, and the book is both a devotional guide and a collection of legends about each temple.

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