14 Jōraku-ji

Jōraku-ji sits in the forested hills on the edge of Tokushima city and serves as the 14th temple of the Shikoku Pilgrimage, one of the world's great Buddhist circuits linking 88 sacred sites associated with the monk Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi), founder of Shingon Buddhism in Japan. The temple holds the mountain name Ōgurizan and the temple name Emmeiin, following the traditional three-name convention of the Henro pilgrimage. According to tradition, Kūkai himself wandered and meditated on Shikoku in the 9th century, and completing all 88 temples is believed to bring the pilgrim into his spiritual presence. Today both devout pilgrims in white robes and secular walkers pass through as part of the roughly 1,200-kilometer circuit around the island. The wooded mountain setting lends the temple a quietude that distinguishes it from the busier stations closer to urban centers.