Yesterday afternoon as I was chatting to Japanese grandpa and drinking tea, I had a look at the shelf of pilgrim-related stuff my host had in the communal tatami room. There were lots of things people had left behind to try and lighten their load, and she’d said we were welcome to help ourselves. I was keen on the reflective sash like the ones I’d used through some tunnels, when this newspaper article headline caught my eye.

A Taisho-era Couple Too!? Cycling the Shikoku Pilgrimage

I spent half an hour reading it slowly, phone dictionary by my side, proud that I could figure out most of the meaning and kanji if not quite 100%.

A historian had uncovered the diaries of Mr and Mrs Naito (at the time aged 45 and 39), who had cycled the Shikoku pilgrimage 109 years ago. They had matching 26″ touring bikes and had arrived in Tokushima by boat from Wakayama. Their diaries detailed the food they ate, places they stayed, and temples they visited – just like the things I wrote in my journal! Unlike me though they didn’t have a bike computer to help with navigation, and relied on asking people and their hosts along the way the best route for cycling. Apparently it took them 34 days to complete the 88 temple pilgrimage, which included using a boat for a small part of it. The hand drawn map in the article shows the route they took from Temple 20 Kakurinji to Temple 22 Byōdōji, with all the squiggly lines being the parts they found tough on a bicycle. Apparently the woman was only the second woman ever to have cycled the pilgrimage since the Meiji-era. The pass over to Temple 43 was so tough they asked a passing cattle herder to help get her bike to the top!

I was fascinated, and more than anything amazed at Mr and Mrs Naito’s achievement. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it must have been in 1917, when I was certainly finding it a challenge in 2026 on asphalted roads with my guidebooks, navigation, and modern gear. Towards the end of the article it described the changing times and styles of the pilgrimage. Even though I had seen hardly any other cycling pilgrims on my trip, it felt special to be following in the footsteps of this adventurous couple. If they could do it, hopefully I could too!

With the halfway mark of Temple 44 just around the corner, I realised my confidence had grown and with that came a sense that I belonged on this journey amongst my fellow pilgrims. I no longer worried so much about whether I would complete it or not, and felt that things would probably work out somehow, whatever happened