Enkō-ji (Temple 39) to Iwaya-ji (Temple 45)
Enlightenment Begins
- Distance
- 140 km
- Climb
- 3,030 m up, 2,500 m down
- Ground
- 30 to 900 m
- Time
- 32 to 42 hours
- Difficulty
- hard
- Underfoot
- mountain, forest, paved
Where this day sits on the Shikoku 88
Above, the highest and lowest ground of each of its 10 stages. Below, the word each day is given.
From open-pilgrimages: each stage's highest and lowest ground and its interior theme.
The day
You have turned north. The harshest coast is behind you. Ehime is the Bodai no Dōjō — the Place of Enlightenment. The word 'bodai' means the awakening that comes not from study but from direct experience. You have been walking for weeks. The temples in western Ehime climb into the mountains and something shifts. You stop counting kilometers. You stop worrying about tomorrow's accommodation. The walk becomes the point, not the temples.
What pilgrims often meet here
- The transition from 'getting through it' to being present
- Awe at Iwaya-ji carved into the cliff face
- Feeling physically strong for the first time
What has this walk taught you that you could not have learned sitting still?
The ground
Entering Ehime — the Province of Enlightenment. The route turns inland and climbs into the mountains of central Shikoku. Iwaya-ji (Temple 45) is dramatically set in cliffs.
The light
Sunrise and sunset in Enkō-ji (Temple 39) depend on the day you walk.
Walk it with Pilgrim
Pilgrim walks the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage in parts, one day at a time in Honor mode, with each day's own morning words and its own question at the end. Its days are cut more finely than the stages here, so this stretch falls across 7 days in the app:
- Iyo, day 1 Enkō-ji (Temple 39) to Kanjizai-ji (Temple 40)
- Iyo, day 2 Kanjizai-ji (Temple 40) to Hotel Ailin
- Iyo, day 3 Hotel Ailin to Butsumoku-ji (Temple 42)
- Iyo, day 4 Butsumoku-ji (Temple 42) to Ozu
- Iyo, day 5 Ozu to Rairakuku
- Iyo, day 6 Rairakuku to Karibaen
- Iyo, day 7 Karibaen to Ichiriki
Each opens that day in Pilgrim, or shows it with where to get the app.