The Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage.
The only pilgrimage in Japan that circles an entire island, and the one your clients have seen photographs of without knowing its name.
What is the Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage?
The only pilgrimage in Japan that circles an entire island, and the one your clients have seen photographs of without knowing its name. Around 1,200 km · 88 temples · 40–50 days on foot, in All four prefectures of Shikoku.
Last updated: 13 September 2026
What it actually is.
Eighty-eight temples associated with Kūkai — Kōbō Daishi — laid in a loop around Shikoku, walked clockwise from Ryōzen-ji in Tokushima. Pilgrims wear a white robe and a sedge hat and carry a staff, and the hat is inscribed dōgyō ninin, "two travelling together": the walker and the Daishi. Most Japanese pilgrims now drive or take a bus and complete it over several years in sections. Walking the whole loop takes six or seven weeks.
What an agent needs to know first.
- Very few foreign clients walk all 1,200 km. The sane luxury product is a curated section of five to ten days, usually in Tokushima or Ehime, with the rest of the circuit explained rather than attempted.
- This is a working devotional circuit, not an attraction: temples have services, and pilgrims are praying, not sightseeing.
- Accommodation on the route is minshuku and shukubo, not hotels — a client who needs a five-star bed every night is being sold the wrong trip, and it is kinder to say so at the quotation stage.
- Osettai, the tradition of local people giving pilgrims food or money, is a religious act. It is accepted with thanks and never refused or repaid.
One party, one itinerary.
- A section itinerary matched to fitness and interest, with the walking days chosen for what they actually pass rather than for distance
- A licensed guide who has walked the circuit, not a general-purpose interpreter
- Temple lodging where it is the right choice and a comfortable base where it is not, with daily transfers between them
- Baggage forwarded ahead each morning, so the walk is done with a day pack
- The full pilgrim outfit sourced and correctly worn, if the client wants it — and the etiquette that goes with it
When to start.
Six months for a section in spring or autumn; the shukubo on the popular stretches are small and fill early. Full-circuit walkers should plan a year.
SeasonMarch to May and October to November. Shikoku is hot and humid in midsummer and several passes are exposed.
What the walking actually is.
- Tokushima, Temples 1 to 11 — the opening stretch across the Yoshino valley floor, nearly flat and well signed, the standard place to start and the easiest walking on the circuit
- Shōsan-ji, Temple 12 — the henro-korogashi or "pilgrim-toppler", a long rough mountain climb from Temple 11 and the hardest single day most section walkers attempt
- The Matsuyama temples, 46 to 53 — a dense cluster of eight in and around the city, short linking walks on pavement, and Dōgo Onsen to finish on
- The Kōchi coast to Cape Muroto — long exposed days beside the Pacific with few temples between them, quiet and demanding, for a party that wants distance rather than sights
What the route asks of a walker.
The temples are working, so the party moves at the pace of the people praying in them. A guide will brief the sequence at each temple — the bow at the gate, hands and mouth rinsed at the basin, the bell rung on arrival and never on leaving — and the rule that the staff, which stands for the Daishi, is washed before the walker and never taken onto a bridge. Photograph the grounds, not people at prayer or the inner hall. Osettai is a religious offering: accept it, say thanks, and do not try to pay it back.
The Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage — what agents ask.
How fit does a client need to be to walk a section of the henro?
Fitter than for any other route on this list. The daily distances on a walking section are long by holiday standards and the linking stretches between temples are on tarmac as often as on trail, which punishes feet more than hills do. The mountain temples — Shōsan-ji is the one every pilgrim remembers — involve a sustained climb on rough ground with no way to shorten it once started. A client who walks regularly at home will manage a five-day section; one who does not should be sold fewer walking days and more temple time.
What happens to luggage between stages?
It is forwarded each morning by courier to the next night's lodging, so the party walks with a day pack only. Minshuku and shukubo on the circuit are used to this and most will hold a bag. The limit is remoteness rather than willingness: a few nights on the Kōchi coast and in the mountain villages need the bag sent a day ahead or routed by road with the guide, which we plan into the itinerary rather than discover on the day.
What is the accommodation actually like, and can a party of six be kept together?
Minshuku and shukubo mean futon on tatami, a shared bath, dinner at a fixed hour and lights out early. Rooms are small and a party of six will usually occupy most of a house, which is an advantage rather than a problem. Western beds and private bathrooms exist only in the towns, so an itinerary that insists on them stops being a walking itinerary and becomes a drive between hotels. Say this to the client before the deposit, not after.
Is the Shikoku pilgrimage a UNESCO World Heritage site?
No. Shikoku is not inscribed — the Kii Mountain Range listing covers the Kumano Kodo and the Koyasan routes, not the 88 temples. Shikoku has been proposed but is not listed, and any operator implying otherwise is wrong.
Are non-Buddhist clients welcome at the temples?
Yes, and no one will ask. The circuit is open to anyone who walks it and foreign pilgrims are a familiar sight in the temple offices. Wearing the white robe and carrying the staff is equally open, but it identifies the wearer as a pilgrim and people will treat them as one — including with osettai, which is then accepted rather than declined. A client who would rather not be read that way simply walks in ordinary clothes.
What is the Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage?
Eighty-eight temples associated with Kūkai — Kōbō Daishi — laid in a loop around Shikoku, walked clockwise from Ryōzen-ji in Tokushima. Pilgrims wear a white robe and a sedge hat and carry a staff, and the hat is inscribed dōgyō ninin, "two travelling together": the walker and the Daishi. Most Japanese pilgrims now drive or take a bus and complete it over several years in sections. Walking the whole loop takes six or seven weeks.
How long does the Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage take?
Around 1,200 km · 88 temples · 40–50 days on foot. Six months for a section in spring or autumn; the shukubo on the popular stretches are small and fill early. Full-circuit walkers should plan a year.
When is the best time to walk it?
March to May and October to November. Shikoku is hot and humid in midsummer and several passes are exposed.
Does Explera sell this to travellers directly?
No. Explera is a B2B ground operator: we build and run the journey at net rates for a travel agent or tour operator, who keeps the client and the margin. We never market to your client.
The other routes.
The Kumano Kodo
Nakahechi route: about 38 km, 2–4 days walking
Dewa Sanzan
Three mountains · 2,446 stone steps to Haguro's summit
The Nakasendo
69 post towns Edo to Kyoto · the walked section is about 8 km
The Koyasan Choishimichi
About 24 km · 180 stone markers · one long day
The Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage
33 temples · the oldest circuit in Japan
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