Shiraishi 88 Temples Pilgrimage

88 Temples-Pilgrimage is a pilgrimage tradition of 88 temples in Shikoku area (covers Kagawa Prefecture, Tokushima Prefecture, Kochi Prefecture and Ehime Prefecture). To respect this tradition, the Japanese from different areas have selected the objects which can give faith to the people from the eighty-eight temples and Buddhas which are located nearby, and have marked numbers on the objects. Shiraishi Island 88 Temples-Pilgrimage is also one of them. On the walking trail there are stone Buddhas with numbers marked on them. By following the number order, you can visit the Buddha of 88 Temples-Pilgrimage in Shiraishi Island. 

Details of the walk

The journey through Shiraishi`s temples, which cover temples 80-84 on the pilgrimage, takes around fourty minutes to walk from the ferry pier.

Temple number 80 is located at the right hand side of the staircase between the two houses pictured below. (The black one and the shorter dark-brown one).

Walking up the steps nearby, you can see another shrine on the way. This one is not part of the 88 Temple Pilgrimage trail but is still a beautiful shrine surrounded by bamboo forest.

 After this you can take a small detour to a viewpoint on top of a large rock, up a small path. This path can be quite treacherous and we recommend it to more advanced hikers

Returning from the shrine back down the hill to the fork in the path, you can walk the other direction for temple number 81. This path is closer to the sea and you should walk with the ocean on your left hand side.

 After this keep following the path forward and you should soon come across the next shrine.

Continuing on, Temple 83 can be found underneath a large rock.

 The final shrine along the trail can be found if you turn left at the upcoming crossroads. After this continue walking for around a minute or two and, and be careful not to miss it! This temple is a little inconspicuous so keep an eye out and don`t walk too far.