Vlog of our 88 Temples of Shikoku adventure 2025: Temples 41-88

Temple 87-88: The long and difficult trail to "Nirvana".

After a warm and comfortable night, spent sleeping on traditional mattresses on the tatami mat covered floor of our room in Ryokan Fujiya, we were summoned downstairs to a traditionally cooked, delicious breakfast. 

Our host family have managed this Ryokan for 80 years! We bade them farewell with gratitude for our shelter for the night and continued on our journey.

Temple 87: Nagaoji: This is a neighborhood temple. We vaguely knew that it would be a long walk to Temple 88 from here but in retrospect were completely ignorant of what lay ahead. As we meandered through the neighborhoods enroute to the mountains we met an elderly gentleman standing outside his home. He was extremely soft spoken and was trying to tell us something in Japanese. Through our translation app we picked up the sentences " please proceed with caution and be careful". We thanked him and continued on.

The first half of the walk was blissful, following a path that wound around a dam and through forests with babbling streams. We stopped to take a rest beside a ramshackle shed that looked abandoned and saw through a broken pane of glass a statue of a woman that looked in fairly good shape compared to everything else in there that was ancient and broken. It was odd and very out of place.

Twice we almost stepped on a snake, which after some research seemed to match the description of a harmless jungle rat snake.

 As we climbed further up the mountain the trail became steeper and more difficult with numerous false summits. After many hours we came to the most difficult section of all,  where we basically had to do rock climbing over a knife's edge with our heavy backpacks for a long distance which seemed at some moments threatening to topple me over the edge. Josh is far more nimble than I am and he talked me through the scary sections, with me muttering intermittently " I'm really not having fun right now". There are many sections on the Shikoku hike that are referred to as Henro Korogashi " Henro fall down", meaning where pilgrims often fall. This term is used to describe particularly difficult sections and to me this was the most treacherous part of the journey.

A network of nature trails called Shikoku no Michi that spans 1545km which are categorized as historical trails form much of the Shikoku Henro. 

The hike today took many hours longer than what we expected and we arrived at Temple 88 physically and emotionally drained, in a slight state of dehydration. We now understood what the elderly gentleman along the way was trying to tell us. After getting out stamps at the Noukyocho office and finally figuring out how to obtain a completion certificate,the temple very quickly shut down for the day shortly thereafter. We were stranded on the mountain top and had missed the last bus down to town.

Thank heavens for o-henro-san Tonies, a pilgrim we had met on and off throughout our journey. He offered to call us a taxi which was a huge help and we bade him farewell. Arigato Tonies!

Strangely, finally finishing the 88 Temples pilgrimage on foot divided into 2 sections  (Temple 1-40 in 2020 and Temple 41 -88 in 2025) covering about 1100km in total felt anti-climactic for both of us. There was a lesson in humility to be learned here. We both expected " something" at the end and there was nothing. It was a lesson of how your own expectations when not realized can lead to a feeling of disappointment and that is something you create in your own mind, it is not something done to you. We laughed when we realized this, we had built up an imaginary triumph or acknowledgement at completing this arduous journey but that was not reality. 

Apparently nirvana in life is obtained by releasing desire because desire leads to disappointment and pain. Inadvertently we learned this and had to let go of the desire to feel some type of " groovy feeling" or acknowledgement of obtaining our final stamp. I guess hereby we did arrive at Nirvana upon this realization for a brief moment!

Temples 84-86: Takamatsu to Sanuki

 

One of the top ten things to do in Takamatsu is to walk up Mount Yashima on very steep paved switchbacks to the summit to Temple 84. Without a heavy backpack this could be a pleasant enough day walk but with the backpack it was pretty hard going.

Along the path was a stone with writing carved into it which was evidently done by Kobo Daishi.

Once at the summit we were rewarded with spectacular views of Takamatsu City and the surrounding sea and islands.

Temple 84: Yashimaji: Temple of the Roofed Island: There is a river that cuts the peninsula off that Mount Yashima sits on and turns it into an island. This mountain also has a flat top which gives it this name. The temple sits on sprawling grounds with numerous interesting statues. We crossed paths with other Japanese henro who we had met in passing before. The weather had warmed up which made it harder to backpack. We found a great hydrating drink called "Pocari Sweat" which makes a huge difference to our hydration status since it contains electrolytes. The temple grounds were very busy with bus loads of tourists pouring in.

After climbing that first mountain of the day we decided to take the ropeway built in 1964, which is a retro tram cable car on rails up the next mountain to Temple 85.

Temple 85: Yakuriji: Temple of the Eight Chestnuts: An older temple and a much more peaceful place with no tourists, set against the backdrop of the imposing cliffs of Mt Goken. We lingered a little longer here, regaining our strength before the long, steep winding walk down the other side of the mountain.

As we walked one of our discussions was that we have not observed a single homeless person in all the time we have spent walking around the island of Shikoku. In addition, we have never observed anyone panhandling or begging. Japan must be doing something right!

Temple 86: Shidoji: Temple of the Fulfilled Wish: Situated in the seaside town of Sanuki which is centered around agriculture and manufacturing. The temple was built in 625 and has a five story pagoda which was completed in 1975.

We met Clive, a British man who lives in Germany who loves Shikoku so much that he comes here often for a vacation.

Late in the afternoon we had nowhere to stay and decided to knock on the door of a ryokan which is a traditional Japanese Inn and find out whether they had a room we could stay in. As it turned out, they did and we were ushered into a tatami room with traditional table and chairs and were offered a pot of hot green tea and kimonos to wear. The lovely host and her very helpful daughter made us feel very comfortable. We would highly recommend staying at Fujiya Ryokan which was founded 80 years ago as an authentic experience to anyone traveling here. It also has a full sushi bar restaurant downstairs which has been highly recommended by past patrons. We arrived too late for dinner but our host will be preparing us breakfast in the morning.

Goodnight from Sanuki.

Temple 61- 66: The last phase of the "enlightenment" section of the journey.

 Temple 61-65:

We departed from Saijo city in the morning to walk from Temple 61-64 along the flat streets of neighborhoods. It's so interesting to walk through " real" Japan and see how the average person lives. One of the major reasons that we love doing these long distance hikes through different countries is the "cultural immersion" aspect of it and moving slowly through the local communities, seeing how people live their everyday lives.

Temple 61: Koonji: As the story goes, when the monk Kukai arrived here, he found a pregnant woman who was in pain, so he lit incense and prayed for her. As a result a boy was safely born. The temple is known as " Koyasu Daishi"- Daishi of protecting children.

We followed the arrows and way markers through villages with narrow streets. Trees are laden with heavy oranges and early cherry blossoms. The air is crisp and cold but the sun is shining.

In almost every street the house styles range from olden traditional architecture to ultra modern, clean straight styles with immaculately manicured gardens.

Every empty patch of ground in-between the houses is used to grow some type of food.

Often a local resident would stop and happily point us in the right direction towards the next temple in Japanese language and hand motions without us asking. We are in awe at the level of politeness and respect people seem to have for each other.

Temple 62: Hojuji: The temple was built in the 8th century and due to the war in 1585 it fell into ruin. It was restored in 1636.

Temple 63: Kichijoji: There is a rock with a hole in the middle. It is said that if you can walk from the main hall with your eyes closed while saying your wish and put your staff through the hole that your prayer will come true. We did not try this but we saw others try and fail. Josh didn't want to trip and fall again on his injured shoulder.

The lady at the Noukyocho office gave us "osettai" in the form of an apple and orange. We felt very grateful at her kind gesture.

Temple 64: Maegamiji: A place of worship for nobles and military families. On the 20th of each month, the three Zao Gongen statues are opened to public viewing and it is believed that if one rubs a part of your body on it that the sickness will be healed. Unfortunately we only read about this after we had visited.

We did meet up with Allessandro from Italy again which was fun.

We then caught a train to the town of Shikokuchuo, the biggest paper manufacturing town in Japan and the location for Temple 65.

Another example of politeness is that the train conductor bows as he enters and leaves each coach.

Temple 65: Sankakuji: The name of this temple is "triangular temple". People believe that the main diety will ward off misfortune and allow for easy childbirth. It is situated high up on a hill with spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and the city below. There were many ancient trees on the temple grounds that were so huge and burdened that branches had to be held up with supports.

We stayed at an outdated hotel called the LiveMax located near the train station but it certainly was value for money at $35. For the first time since we arrived we had a late afternoon and evening off from the trail. We shopped for provisions from a local supermarket called Fuji and it was fun to walk down all the aisles and see what they had in the store. For dinner we ordered take-out veggie pizza from an Italian restaurant which was delicious and Josh had a burger at a McDonald's. 

I forgot to mention that a previous city we stayed in called Imabari is a famous towel manufacturing city. We received a small hand towel gift at the hotel we were staying at there.

It would seem that Shikoku is a manufacturing power house in Japan, with each city specializing in a specific product or industry.

Temple 66: Unpenji: " The temple of hovering clouds" This is highest temple on the Shikoku pilgrimage. It's situated on a mountain top at 911m. Fortunately there is a cable car ropeway that takes you up the mountain which gave us spectacular vistas of the surrounding countryside.

The mountain top was covered in snow which made everything even more beautiful. In the temple grounds are 500 statues each uniquely carved with different expressions. We ran into Frank again which was a fun surprise.

Once we reached the base of the ropeway on our way out, we walked for about 2 hours to Temple 67: Daihoji. On the way we met up with Cathy and Stas again who walked by us as we were resting for a few minutes in a roadside Henro Hut. We were also given a packet of candy from a passing truck driver as a gift of "osettai", who just leaned out of his window while driving past and handed it to me. We were so amazed at his random act of kindness!

An enormous Camphor tree in the grounds of Temple 66 was said to be planted by Kukai which makes it about 1200 years old 

We walked for another hour to a bus stop and as we were standing on the side of the road trying to to decipher the bus time table, a lady pulled up in her car and asked us whether she could help us. We told her that we wanted to catch the bus and she responded by offering us a ride, saving us from walking another 8km in the late afternoon. Wow, we were blown away by her gift of "osettai" in giving us a ride. 

Free fast hiking through the city of Kanonji to reach Temple 68: Jinnein & 69 which sits side by side and made it just in time before the Noukyocho office closed.

It's a Friday and all the hotels are fully booked. We got permission from the monk at Temple 69: Kannonji to camp off to the side of the property. We're here right now beside a huge ancient tree, with the beautiful temples around us. What an epic day!