Foreign participants wanted: Paid Monitoring of Shikoku Trail
The Shikoku Pilgrimage, a 1,200-kilometer-long pilgrimage course, has a 1,200-year tradition.
Since the pilgrimage follows the footsteps of Kobo Daishi (Kukai), the founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism, it is emphasized as a place of worship and spiritual training. There is also a focus on visiting the 88 temples scattered throughout Shikoku in order.
But the truth is that there are many attractive sightseeing spots along the pilgrimage course, including beautiful landscapes and historic sites that are unique to Shikoku. You can experience more than just visiting temples. We want you to enjoy Shikoku as a full adventure travel experience. From this perspective, we have created 10 model courses that can be enjoyed on foot regardless of nationality or religion, and named them the “Shikoku Trail.”
This project began in May 2021, commissioned by the Shikoku District Transport Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to Hyakujushi (114) Economic Research Institute. The courses were selected based on opinions from experts, and foreign monitors have walked the courses and given us a lot of feedback. In addition, many entities, including tourist information centers and private businesses, have worked together to support travelers.
We will continue our efforts in 2022 under commission from the bureau. We have reviewed the model courses, incorporated sites for bike rentals and baggage delivery, and made slight changes to the courses. We also plan to further strengthen our system for supporting visitors, and collecting and offering information.
The Shikoku Trail is now in its second year. We are still evolving. We are looking for people to join our project who will actually walk the courses and check them out. We would like to make the trail even better by obtaining the opinions of the participants on what foreign visitors need to facilitate their trip around Shikoku, what kind of courses would best promote Shikoku’s attractions, etc. If you meet the following conditions, please join us and help us.
Application Period
- Aug 24, 2022 (Wednesday) – September 4, 2022 (Sunday)
Monitoring Period
- 1st Period (Course 1,2,4,9,10): Sep 1, 2022 (Thursday) – Oct. 31, 2022 (Monday)
- 2th Period (Course 3,5,6,7,8): Oct 1, 2022 (Saturday) – Nov 30, 2022 (Wednesday)
We will ask you to participate in one of the course (Each course takes 3 to 4 days to complete).
Please refer to the button below for model itinerary.
Number of applicants
- 40 foreign participants (20 monitors×2 periods)
Remuneration
Remunerations vary depending on the course.
- Course 1,2 ￥35,000
- Course 5,6,7,8 ￥40,000
- Course 3,4,9,10 ￥44,000
This amount includes the cost of transportation from your place of residence to the start and from finish points to your place of residence.
You will also be responsible for your accommodation, meals, and other expenses (bicycle expenses) during your stay.
However, you do not have to pay any fees for the delivery or temporary storage of your belongings, as we make the reservations and pay the fees.
However, for some courses you may use Cycle Shikoku, in which case the institute will pay directly to Cycle Shikoku. If you wish to use E-bikes on courses 9 and 10, we will only pay up to 3000 yen per day (to Cycle Shikoku) for the e-bikes, and you will pay the additional charge directly to Cycle Shikoku using E-bikes. Also, please know in advance that E-bikes are not available on courses other than 9 and 10.
Also, if you would like to use the bike more days or stay longer than the model itinerary, that is totally up to you. We will be happy if you could enjoy Shikoku more.
Other than that, we can help you with lodging reservations, and we will need these information to arrange for delivery, so if you make your own reservations, please let us know the sooner the better.
If you have any questions that are not clear, let me know and I will email you back, or if many of you seem to have same questions, we will update the website, thank you!
Conditions of Participation
- Have non-Japanese nationality.
- Have trekking experience.
- You agree to walk the course determined at the time of recruitment during the above monitoring period.
- Answer questionnaires before and after the monitoring.
- Submit photo data of the trip after the monitoring.
How to apply
- Please click the button below to go to the Monitor Application Form and answer the questions (your name, desired period of participation, course and so on). Our staff will get back to you within one week.
- For more details, please refer to the Monitoring Procedures. The monitoring course that you will follow will be decided upon consultation. We will try our best to accommodate any requests you may have. We reserve the right to refuse an application if the number of participants exceeds the capacity or if the participant’s conditions do not match our requirements. We will provide the participants with a Shikoku Japan 88 Course Guide to the Shikoku Pilgrimage in English.
