Shikoku, Japan · Town / small city, Mountain
Pilgrimage town centred on Kotohira-gu Shrine (Kompira-san): 785 steps to the main shrine and 1,368 to the inner Okusha shrine.
Train — Direct JR Dosan Line train from Takamatsu (about 1 hour), or from Okayama via the Marine Liner with a transfer at Takamatsu.
🧭 Pilgrimage
A 785-step staircase up to the main shrine of Kotohira-gu, one of Japan's great pilgrimage destinations.
Japan's oldest still-operating kabuki theatre, built in 1835, with its original wooden stage machinery.
Every April since 1985, real kabuki is staged inside the Kanamaru-za, the oldest surviving kabuki theatre in Japan, built in 1835. Tickets sell out, and during the get-in and the run the theatre cannot be visited as a museum.
The 785 steps to the main shrine and the 1,368 to the Okusha are crowded almost all day; first thing in the morning they are empty. Warning: the palanquin service was discontinued at the end of January 2020 because the bearers had grown too old, so it no longer exists.
A brewery founded in 1789 and supplier of the shrine's sacred sake. The historic kura is toured with its original machinery, and there is tasting and sales.
The shrine's great festival, 9 to 11 October. On the night of the 10th, at nine, a procession of some five hundred people leaves the main shrine with the golden mikoshi, led by yakko carrying feathered spears; it takes three hours to descend the two kilometres.
A hands-on Sanuki udon class: kneading with your feet, stretching, cutting and eating what you have made yourself, in under an hour and a half and ten minutes on foot from the station.
Taxis whose drivers hold Kagawa's official certification and take travellers to the hidden udon stands of the Sanuki interior, many with no sign and open only a few hours.
In the neighbouring municipality of Zentsuji, nine kilometres away and two train stops. It is the birthplace of Kukai and one of Japan's three great daishi sites, with a five-storey pagoda and a pitch-dark underground passage beneath the main hall.
A building midway up the climb with intricately detailed woodcarvings, considered one of the finest on the grounds.
Beyond step 1,368 the trail continues along the ridge to the 616 metres of Oasayama, the highest point of the Zozusan massif and a Sanuki geosite; the usual circuit returns via Kotohirayama.
Electric bike rental in town: it is the best way to do udon-meguri around the rural stands that have no bus stop.
An additional stretch of steps completing the full 1,368 up to the inner Okusha shrine, with views over the Sanuki plain.
Twenty minutes on foot from the station, trails and a viewing tower from which you see the shrine and the stairway to the west, the Marugame plain to the north and Sanuki Fuji to the east; on a clear day the view reaches the Akashi bridge.
There are hot springs in Kotohira, though modern ones: the well was drilled in 1997 and the chloride water is piped to the ryokan on the slope. There is no municipal public bath, so bathing without staying overnight means using the ryokan day plans.
At the foot of the stairway, it covers the human relationship with the sea, the deep ocean and naval engineering: the secular counterpart to the sailors' shrine. It has a radio-controlled boat area and a panoramic bridge.
In Manno-cho, the largest irrigation reservoir in Japan, with a twenty-kilometre perimeter. It broke in the year 818 and Kukai rebuilt it around 821 using arch technique learned in China; every 15 June the sluice gates are opened in a public ceremony.
This is the missing piece for understanding Konpira-san: this Shingon temple kept the image of Konpira Daigongen, the deity the pilgrimage is named after. With the forced separation of Shinto and Buddhism in the Meiji era the deity was renamed and almost all the associated temples were dissolved; this was the only one that survived. It stands beside step 22.
Guided sessions at the temple, mid-morning, before the stairway fills up.
The shrine's reception hall, with sliding-door paintings by Maruyama Okyo, designated an Important Cultural Property.
In the neighbouring municipality: 350 hectares with playgrounds, a cycling circuit with rental, camping and barbecues, and in winter an illumination of more than half a million lights with fireworks.
Freshly made Kagawa-style udon, from the prefecture known as the 'land of udon', at shops near the shrine approach.
The shrine owns twenty-seven oil paintings by Takahashi Yuichi, the pioneer of oil painting in Japan, and shows around twenty of them on rotation within the shrine grounds.
Twenty-seven metres tall, completed in 1860: the tallest wooden lantern in Japan. It served as a symbolic lighthouse for Inland Sea sailors and is listed as an Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property. Three minutes from the station.
Five families, and only five, have held since the Kamakura period the exclusive right to sell inside the sacred precinct; they are recognised by their large white parasols on the steps. They sell kamiyo-ame, a flat fan-shaped candy that you break with the little hammer included.
In the Edo period, anyone who could not make the climb sent their dog with a pouch around its neck holding the owner's name, the offering and money for food; pilgrims it met along the way passed it from hand to hand up to the shrine and back. It is part of the practice of daisan, pilgrimage by proxy, and today it has its own statue and amulet.
A dyeing workshop in town, with the less usual option of dyeing with Sanuki nori seaweed instead of indigo.
A hall along the climb displaying ship models, anchors, and photographs donated by sailors, since Kompira is worshipped as a protector of seafarers.
Kotohira-gu's museum of ritual objects, armor, and art donated to the shrine over the centuries.
Full dressing in town for the climb; a poor idea in July and August, with 785 steps and humid heat.
A stone-paved street at the base of the stairs lined with sake breweries, craft shops, and walking sticks for the climb.
A festival created in 2000 by the hot-spring district and held every January; the exact dates are announced at short notice.
On the first Sunday of October, out and back from the Kinryo brewery to the main shrine, with more than five hundred participants. It is not competitive: it can be completed at walking pace. Registration in August.
Votive offerings, materials from the Konpira-mairi pilgrimage and everyday life in the market town, in the municipal cultural centre. Closed Tuesdays.
A park next to the shrine, popular in spring for its cherry blossoms and valley views.
Opened in 2024 on the approach street to the shrine, with fairground target shooting and tomikuji lottery, and even an annual champions ranking. It is practically the only after-dinner option in a town that closes early.
A covered, arched bridge with no piers over the Kanakura river, documented since the late 17th century and a Tangible Cultural Property. Today it is crossed only during the Reitaisai ritual, but it can be seen freely from the bank.
One of the historic houses on the stairway teaches how to pull and cut the candy by hand; it is booked through the town's hostel.
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