20 Kakurin-ji

Kakurin-ji is the 20th temple on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, one of Japan's most revered Buddhist circuits encompassing 88 temples across Shikoku island. The temple belongs to the Shingon sect and bears the mountain name Ryōjusan, a reference to Vulture Peak, the legendary site of the Buddha's teachings in India. Tradition holds that the monk Gyoki founded the site before Kūkai — the 9th-century patriarch of Shingon Buddhism and the pilgrimage's spiritual patron — consecrated it and deepened its practice. Nestled in the forested mountains above Katsuura, the temple retains a genuinely secluded character. Pilgrims in white jackets (hakui) and sedge hats arrive year-round, each carrying a staff said to embody Kūkai himself on the journey.