Spring Pilgrimage Season Arrives on Japan’s Shikoku Island

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:54 JST, March 29, 2023

Pilgrims descend stone steps at Yakuoji temple in Minami, Tokushima Prefecture. People making the famous 88-temple pilgrimage in Shikoku are becoming a common sight again as cherry blossom season has arrived. Yakuoji is the 23rd stop on the route, and its stone steps are believed to dispel bad luck. The chanting of Buddhist sutras could be heard from the temple’s main building, which was filled with incense.