Religious Tour (henro)

A religious tour (henro) is a pilgrimage around a circuit of holy sites following a set route. The term is often used to refer to a pilgrimage of 88 holy sites in Shikoku or to those making such a pilgrimage. Like the pilgrimage of 33 sites in the western provinces, the pilgrimage of 88 sites in Shikoku became popular from the mid-Muromachi period on. When pilgrimages by common people became popular in the Edo period (1603–1867), guides were printed up. In the Heian period (795–1180), the practice arose of taking a training tour around the coastline of Shikoku along a route called the Shikoku Hechi. The route in Awa Province (Tokushima Prefecture) was called Hosshin no Dojo (training place for spiritual awakening); that in Tosa Province (Kochi Prefecture), Shugyo no Dojo (training place for ascetic practice); that in Iyo Province (Ehime Prefecture), Bodai no Dojo (training place for enlightenment); and that in Sanuki Province (Kagawa Prefecture), Nehan no Dojo (training place for nirvana). A pilgrimage through all of these routes came to be known as a religious tour (henro). This practice of a training tour along the coastline of Shikoku is considered to have been influenced by the Kumano religion. After the death of Kukai (Kobo Daishi), who originally come from Sanuki, monks of the Shingon sect began making pilgrimages through holy sites related to his career. It is thought that these holy sites combined with the sacred locations along the Shikoku Hechi route to become the now-recognized 88 pilgrimage sites in Shikoku. One can follow the tour clockwise in order from the first site where amulets are issued (Ryozen Temple in Naruto City, Tokushima Prefecture) or proceed counterclockwise in reverse order from the 88th place where amulets are issued (Okubo Temple in Sanuki City, Kagawa Prefecture). There is a tradition of visiting Mount Koya to offer prayers of gratitude upon completion of the pilgrimage. Pilgrims wear straw sandals, white pilgrim’s jackets, hand coverings, cotton gaiters, and sedge hats. With narrow pilgrim stoles around their necks, they carry prayer beads and bells, and walk with a wooden staff. The lettering on their hats and staffs, Dogyo ninin (Two traveling together), is taken to mean that they are accompanying Kukai along his career path. Even today there remain the customs of giving alms to pilgrims along the way and offering charitable lodging.