Pilgrimage on Shikoku Island

These are the records of my trips around Shikoku. I walked the entire pilgrimage in one go during the Spring of 1999, including the 88 main temples and the 20 bangai temples. I walked the henro trail a second time (again all 108) beginning in 2005, but this time walking one prefecture per year: Tokushima (2005), Kōchi (2006), Ehime (2007), & Kagawa (2008). I returned for a third walk when i guided someone around the trail in 2011.

In 2015 & 2016 I made my 4^th walk around the island, guiding someone through part of the walk in the first year and returning by myself to finish all of the temples the second year. In 2017 i guided a woman around the temples of Tokushima and Kōchi Prefectures, but haven't yet gone back to finish all of them myself.

The journal entries have gotten pretty sporadic over the years as i have felt less need to write, given that i write a lot here and on my blog already. However, for those who want the full story of what it is like to walk the henro trail, my 1999 journal is complete and unedited. I wrote something almost every night while doing that walk and stopped each day to plug my laptop into a pay-phone in order to upload that to this site. (Remember those days???)

I already look forward to another circuit of the trail and another slow walk and chat with the Daishi about a great many topics. I'm telling you, that guy really likes to talk once you get him started...

When i'm not on Shikoku, i continue any writings about the henro trail on my blog,
Essentially Nothing,
which i write under my Chinese name, Lao Bendan.