Usuki Pilgrimage

“Usuki Pilgrimage” is a stamp rally that offers four different courses that cover 33 locations in Usuki City that have been the object of prayers, with a particular focus on the “thoughts” of the predecessors of today’s Usuki, who truly valued “people” and “prayers by people” that transcended differences among religious sects.

Precautions

  • Usuki Tourism and Community Plaza serves as the start and end points of the stamp rally. Participants will receive a stamp book at the counter there.
  • Once you have collected all 33 stamps, you will receive a commemorative stamp to mark your achievement.
  • Participants are asked to please keep the hours of worship and visitation between 9:00 and 17:00.
  • A compact car is recommended for transportation. (Some shrines and temples have very narrow roads.)
  • When you are guided to statues of the Buddha, paintings, and other temple treasures, please remember to offer a donation and show your thanks.
  • Once you have gotten your stamp, please return it to its original position.
  • If circumstances do not allow you to get a stamp at a certain shrine or temple, you can get a stamp at the Usuki Tourism and Community Plaza.

After getting your Stamp Passport at the Usuki Tourism and Community Plaza, your first destination is Usuki Yasaka-jinja Shrine, known for its Gion Festival. The route from the castle town to Mt. Koya along the beautiful Nioza Historical Road is a course full of blessings where you can also enjoy viewing temple treasures as you collect your stamps.

With a view of Tsukumi Island in Usuki Bay to your right, the tour continues through a diverse seaside landscape of fishing ports, shipyards, and aquaculture fish nurseries. There are several points of interest along this route, including numerous memorial towers where the fishermen in Usuki stop and pray as signs of the value they place on life, and the roots of the name of Usuki.

The town of Notsu is said to have been home to more than 5,000 Christians in the Middle Ages. This route’s numerous historical Christian sites, the tranquil countryside, and the greenery of the mountains will refresh your spirit. Come and experience green tourism (a homestay in a rural village), country-style cooking, and interactions with people that will put a smile on your face.

Starting from Usuki Castle, this route takes you to temples, shrines, and other places of interest, and then to the final corridor, Fukata-no-Sato. Ponder the prayers made by our ancestors who stopped and prayed in front of the Usuki Stone Buddhas, a national treasure.

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