Pilgrimage– tag –

The practice of Shugendō produces some of the most otherworldly images Shikoku and Japan have to offer, as white-clad practitioners scale sacred peaks.

Amidst idyllic rural scenes, the sound of the temple bell and the smell of incense gradually grows stronger until you arrive at Temple 3, Konsen-ji.

Just off a busy prefectural highway, a brilliant vermillion gate leads into an oasis of calm. Welcome to Gokuraku-ji, Temple 2 of the Shikoku Pilgrimage.

From Japan's high-tech cities to its quiet countryside, signs of Japanese spirituality are everywhere. Even in the concrete maze of Tokyo, stone Buddha statu...

Visitors enjoy a cool boat ride at Takamatsu's Ritsurin Garden Shikoku, the smallest and wildest of Japan’s four main islands, has been a place to return to ...

An ascetic scales chains toward the peak of Mt. Ishizuchi, known as “Tengu-dake”, as seen from the summit shrine.  Straddling the border ...

Japan’s iconic torii gates are everywhere, from bustling streetcorners to soaring mountain peaks, and Shikoku’s no exception. These gates mark sacred space i...

The Shikoku Pilgrimage is a 1,300 kilometer circuit linking 88 temples across the island of Shikoku. Traditionally completed on foot over 45 to 50 days, the ...

Situated near Japan’s oldest hot spring in Matsuyama City, the legend of Ishite-ji, or Stone-Hand Temple, sits at the heart of the Henro. Origins and History...

Clinging to cave-pocked cliffs high in the Kuma Mountains, Iwaya-ji has since antiquity been one of the Henro’s most idyllic and imposing sacred sites. ...