David Moreton

Name In Japanese: モートン常慈
Pronunciation : mōton jōji
Period : 1969

David Moreton is a Canadian expert on the Shikoku Pilgrimage. He researches the involvement of foreign nationals in the Shikoku Pilgrimage, and lectures extensively to Japanese audiences on the subject in Japanese.

He’s been intimately involved in most of the recent initiatives to make the pilgrimage accessible to people from other countries, translating the route guide used by all foreign pilgrims and other essential materials. He’s also the go-to person for documentary-makers outside Japan. He appears in the hour-long PBS documentary about the Shikoku Pilgrimage in the Sacred Journeys series, and Joanna Lumley’s Japan section on the pilgrimage for the Australian Broadcasting Company.

David has a large and fascinating collection of historical photographs and pamphlets related to the pilgrimage dating back at least a hundred years, as well as artefacts that once belonged to foreign Ohenro pioneers.