Henro

Henro (遍路) designates the pilgrim who travels the trail of the 88 temples in Shikoku, but the term henro is also used to refer to the Shikoku pilgrimage itself, as an abbreviation of henro michi.

Where the word comes from. People first spoke of hechi (辺地 or 辺路, “the edges”): the circuit of Shikoku’s shores, an ascetic practice of monks in the 11th and 12th centuries. Around 1280 we find “四國邊路,” and in the 16th century pilgrims write “四国中邊路,” “the full circuit of Shikoku.” Shinnen still writes 邊路 in 1687. The present spelling 遍路 (“going around everywhere”) only became standard from the Meiji era.