Iwaya-ji is temple No. 45 on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, or Henro. If there’s one temple on the pilgrimage you really should visit in Ehime Prefecture, Iwaya-ji is it. The temple is located on Kuma Highland in a gorge formed of conglomerate rock. It inspires awe, from the trek up the hillside, to its location embedded in a pock-marked cliff, and the beauty of its structures. At an altitude of 585 m, this temple is one of the nansho (difficult to reach places) of Ehime and mountain recluses and wandering holy men once performed their religious disciplines among the cliffs here.