It's actually a 4.5 stars. I am a yoga instructor. This is the first CD I bought for my class, and it works beautifully! As picky as I'm toward the music I use for my class, I like music that's relaxing yet not boring to put you to sleep. I do have to mention though, the last song "Ritual Waves", I found is very disturbing...

The ever prolific New Age maestro Kitaro's musical pilgrimage continues with this CD, with eleven compositions inspired by Temples 13 through 23 on the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage Route. All in all he does a fine job of maintaining the tone and flavor of "Sacred Journey of Kukai, Volume 1" while not getting stuck in a rut. He manages to integrate the temple bells into the music somewhat more smoothly than before, while continuing overall to alchemically blend traditional Asian musical forms with contemporary sensibilities as well as he did on the last album (and throughout his career, for that matter). The Chinese pipa lute is particularly effective on track six, and the Arabic inflections in track seven are subtle and yet thrilling.

That said, at first I thought I was going to dislike this album. Some of the earlier tracks are a bit on the weak side, and track five has way too much of Kitaro's sentimental whoops and swirls and seems overdone (and parts of it sound to me like a theme for a second-rate Japanese TV drama). Just when I was starting to roll my eyes, though, track six kicked in and saved the day, and the rest of the album gets the balance about right.

I do kind of feel that, according to my tastes at least, Volume 1 was a stronger effort on Kitaro's part, but this is still great spiritual music with a heart, focused on inner peace and world peace and inspired by a time-honored Japanese religious practice. One can only look forwards to the next stage in the pilgrimage and wonder what it will bring.

If you like tranquil oriental music - buy this CD! It makes you feel

like you're in Japan. Definetely much different than American music!