Walking in Shikoku

The Ohenro circles the whole island of Shikoku, visiting eighty-eight temples associated with Kūkai, the monk who shaped Japanese Buddhism, and most modern pilgrims now ride it by bus. Walking it is a different order of undertaking: around 1,200 kilometres and roughly six weeks, enough to wear out a pair of shoes and to change how the days feel.

What makes the walking version singular is osettai — the living tradition by which strangers hand food, drink or small kindnesses to walking pilgrims as an offering. You move through rural Japan at footpace, in white vest and conical hat, sleeping in minshuku, temple lodgings and free huts, and the sheer duration does something the shorter pilgrim trails cannot. It is the Camino's older, harder, far quieter cousin.

Summer heat and humidity make walking genuinely dangerous, and winter closes some of the mountain temple approaches. Spring and autumn are the seasons; the rest is a matter of time, and having six weeks to give it.

Summer heat and humidity make walking genuinely dangerous; winter closes some mountain temple approaches.