36 Shōryū-ji

Shōryū-ji is the 36th temple on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, a centuries-old circuit linking 88 Buddhist sanctuaries across Shikoku island in Japan. It belongs to the Buzan branch of Shingon Buddhism, the esoteric school founded by the monk Kūkai — revered as Kōbō Daishi — in the early 9th century. Kōchi Prefecture forms the so-called Enlightenment portion of the pilgrimage route, and the temple sits within the historic district of Tosa. Pilgrims following the full route on foot cover roughly 1,200 kilometers in total; at each stop, including Shōryū-ji, they recite sutras and collect an ink stamp in their dedicated pilgrimage book, the nōkyōchō.