Kōchi-ken

Introducing Kōchi-ken

The largest of Shikoku’s four prefectures, Kōchi-ken spans the entire Pacific coastline from east of the cape at Muroto-misaki to west of the cape at Ashizuri-misaki. Historically known as the land of Tosa, the region was always considered wild and remote as it’s cut off from the rest of Japan by a barrier of rugged mountains on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. To o-henrō, Kōchi-ken is known as Shūgyō-no-dōjō (the place of practice) and has a notorious reputation as the pilgrimage’s testing ground.

Although the trip through Tosa makes up more than a third of the pilgrimage, only 16 of the 88 temples are located in the province. In fact, there are 84km between the last temple in Tokushima-ken at Hiwasa and the first temple in Kōchi-ken at Muroto-misaki. Furthermore, the distance from Temple 37 (Iwamoto-ji) in Kubokawa to Temple 38 (Kongōfuku-ji) at Ashizuri-misaki is 87km, the longest distance between temples on the pilgrimage. Since there are few places this remote in all Japan, o-henrō tend to breathe a sigh of relief after moving on to Ehime-ken prefecture.

Kōchi-ken is also regarded as an exquisite destination for outdoor lovers. Whether your passion is surfing, whale-watching, canoeing, rafting, hiking or camping, Kōchi-ken brims with scenic spots, especially along the Shimanto-gawa, one of the last naturally flowing rivers in Japan.

Last updated: Mar 2, 2009