Longer and older than the camino,
longer and older than any marked
pilgrim route on earth ist the way of the
88 holy places. It circles the Japanese
island Shikoku. According to the temples,
shrines and monks it’s called the „holy island“.

Pilgrims had been going here for one thousend
two hundred years, along a route of 1.300 kilometres,
marked by 88 temples. The number gives the route its
name: hachijuhakkasho – the 88 holy places.

The pilgrims here are japanese buddhists. Only by exception
a foreigner participates. Like in spring 2007. A german pilgrim was
„henro boke“, a special state of mind of a pilgrim. He was on his own
and was finding a lot: monks drumming, snakes awakening, sutras,
foreigness in every respect and each meaning.

The word „pilgrim“ comes from the Latin. It means „foreigner“. Going on a
pilgrimage, to me that means exposing myself to foreigness. Here on the rural
island Shikoku no latin characters exist, nearly nobody speaks english. The maps:
puzzles. Just the right place for a pilgrimage to foreigness.

Where am I really, being always at the wrong place, unable to talk, always missing the
right way, going into lonelyness, losing my way in the jungle of strange signs, never knowing
if I will arrive after 1.300 kilometres in the right place? What a strange feeling, meeting people
who have done the whole pilgrimage not only once but seven times – or 385 times! This is the holy island, a little bit crazy, perhaps a little bit more. Perhaps the german pilgrim became a little bit crazy, too – and together with him: his documentary.