Junrei (巡礼) is the word most commonly used for either of two major types of pilgrimages in Japan, in accordance with Buddhism or Shinto.^[1] These pilgrimages can be made as a visit to a group of temples, shrines, or other holy sites, in a particular order, often in a circuit of 33 or 88 sites. Other pilgrimages may center on a pilgrimage to a single site. One of the most popular pilgrimages for Buddhists in Japan is visiting the 88 temples on Shikoku. In certain contexts, Junrei can be used to refer to other pilgrimage practices in world religions foreign to Japan, such as the Hajj.

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (March 2023)

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Japanese. (March 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Japanese article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 3,809 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Japanese Wikipedia article at [[:ja:巡礼]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|ja|巡礼}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Pilgrimages can be organized by tour bus companies, taking only a couple of weeks to complete, although many pilgrims prefer to take the two- or three-month-long journeys on foot in the traditional manner. Pilgrims on the Shikoku junrei are referred to as henro (遍路) and traditionally wear straw hats and white clothing.

There are a number of rules traditionally observed while on a junrei.

• Say the name of Kōbō-Daishi following one's devotion it is preceded every thing. (Kōbō-Daishi is Kūkai's posthumous name)
• Pilgrimage as the ascetic.
• Must not kill any living things.
• Must not say immoral things to women.
• Have some medicines for your unexpected bad condition.
• Must not drink any alcohol.
• Do not quarrel with your partner.
• Do not have a lot of money.
• Do not have unnecessary baggage.
• Pay attention to your food hygiene.
• Go to an inn before it gets dark.
• Must not go out of an inn during the night.