Koyasan

Sunday was an incredible adventure! I went with Gigi and Yamamoto-san (a client of the family business) to Koyasan in Wakayama Prefecture. I think I have just found my favorite place in Japan so far!

We woke up early and picked up Yamamoto-san in Kawachinagano. The drive to Koyasan was about two hours but it was through beautiful countryside. The road up the mountain is two lanes and winds all over the place as it follows the topography. It rained all day and was cold, so we were happy to have the car. I’m not a person that usually gets motion sick, but there was so much back and forth that I unfortunately was a little out of it during our visit to Koyasan.

The entrance to Koyasan is a 25 meter tall gate called Daimon. It is where pilgrims that have walked to Koyasan enter from. On either side of it are two statues that depict protector deities carved out of wood.

It’s extremely beautiful and it was incredible way to enter into this sacred city. As we drove in, we immediately began to pass buildings that are used for different parts of the temple. I suppose I should mention that Koyasan is one big temple and city combined. It was established almost 1200 years ago (the 1200^th anniversary is happening in two to three years) by Kobo Daishi as a place for Buddhism to be practiced away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Koyasan itself is a remote and elevated mountain valley that is about six kilometers long and surrounded by serene forests. It also has it’s own little climate where it usually about ten degrees Celsius cooler than the surround areas.

The first building we went to was Kongobuji, the head temple of Koyasan Shingon Buddhism. The Buddhism practiced there is a mix of Shintoism (Japan’s national religion) and Buddhism (Kobo Daishi studied Buddhism in China and brought teachings back). This is a popular form of Buddhism and Shintoism in Japan. It is believed that the Shinto deities are early forms of Buddhist deities, so the two work out well together and create a well molded religion.

Anyway, Kongobuji was very pretty and there were many tour groups filing in, so we didn’t stay long.

Our next stop was my favorite place in all of Koyasan. Okunoin is a cemetery with over 200,000 gravestones and memorials and more are still being added.

Okunoin is two kilometers long and has some of the most massive trees I have ever seen in my life! They were incredible and most were at least a couple centuries old. It was a beautiful place. We walked all over between large stone graves and massive trees. The most famous grave that we saw (as far as I know because everything was in Japanese!) was that of the emperor Toyotomi Hideoshi who built Osaka Castle. Hideoshi had an interesting history with Koyasan.

He originally went there to conquer it, but a monk there convinced him otherwise. Eventually, Hideoshi became a patron of Koyasan and was buried there when he died. It was surprising to the see the small size for such a great leader.

At the end of Okunoin is the Torodo and the Mausoleum of Kobo Daishi. When Kobo Daishi passed away, it was believed that instead of dying, he entered into eternal meditation and is forever meditating in Koyasan. The mausoleum is where Kobo Daishi meditates and is off limits to outsiders. In front of the mausoleum is the Torodo or Lantern Hall which is a prayer chapel. The ceiling of the Torodo is covered in paper lamps that have been donated since the beginning of the temple. Visitors are allowed to enter the first part of the Torodo, but the back section is used for prayer. At all times of the day there is a fire burning and a monk reciting a prayer in ancient Japanese. Twice a day, a meal and tea is offered to Kobo Daishi as he sits in eternal meditation. The building is incredible and you could feel how special of a place it is. Unfortunately, you can’t take pictures, so I’ll leave it up to you to do the web searches. There were also more massive trees surrounding the Torodo. It was an absolutely fantastic space.

As we walked back through Okunoin, we passed the area where corporate executives were buried as well as memorials to various events in Japan’s history. This memorial is for all those that we lost in one of the more recent devastating earthquakes.

This one was for Nissan, the car company.

This one was for a Japanese coffee company. I kid you not. There were giant stone coffee cups.

It was a little weird to have the business memorials, but I guess anyone’s allowed to have a memorial if they want it.

Just outside Okunoin we had a quick snack and then drove to a lookout tower about 30 minutes south of Koyasan. It was very cool even though we couldn’t see very far because of the rain and mist. The wind was fairly strong and it was absolutely pouring rain. I was able to pick up some pamphlets about Koyasan from their small gift shop.

We then returned to Koyasan where we had a lunch of tempura udon and stopped at a gift shop. I picked out a couple things and Yamamoto-san very generously insisted in purchasing them for me after quite a bit of protesting on my part. It was extremely nice of him.

We stopped next at Nyonido, the only female temple left in Koyasan. Originally, women were not allowed to enter Koyasan, so seven temples for women were built just outside of Koyasan. Next to it was this giant Buddha.

Our final stop in Koyasan was the Danjo Garan Complex, which is right next to Okunoin at the top of the list of the most important places in Koyasan. It is the place where Buddhist monks train. The center piece of the complex is the Kondo, where ever important ceremony is Koyasan is held. It is the main hall for Koyasan.

The tallest building on the premises is the Konpon Daito. It is a fifty meter tall pagoda that is a bright orange. In the center of the pagoda is a giant, gold-plated Buddha (Dainichi Nyorai of the Matrix Realm) that is surrounded by four smaller Buddhas (The four Buddhas of the Diamond Realm). On the massive pillars around them are painted the Sixteen Great Bodhisattvas. It is a very impressive room that did not allow cameras to share it’s glory.

Koyasan is an incredible place. If anyone finds themselves in Japan for any reason at all, they should make a super huge gigantic effort to make there way to Koyasan. It’s pretty much right in the middle of Japan, so you can’t argue that you went to the wrong end of Japan. Also, the public transportation there is great, so saying that your mom wouldn’t drive you isn’t an excuse either. Seriously. It’s worth every minute of getting there.

When we left, the rain had almost stopped. The clouds were still there, so Koyasan was a misty wonderland. The road down the mountain was also misty. And this just made it all the more difficult to transverse the snake of asphalt. We were behind a bus the whole the time which almost jackknifed into the mountain on every curve. Finally, we stopped and had a snack of fried mochi (Japanese rice cakes). They were quite delicious.

The next part of the day was spent driving north through Nara prefecture and then west to Kobe to drop of Yamamoto-san off. He had been picked up by Papa Kazuhiro the day before and had no easy and fast way to get back. The cool part of the drive was that we went past the Diamond trail and Mount Kongo where Gigi and I had hiked a couple weeks before. It was fun to see the other side of the mountain range. It was beautiful in all the clouds and mist that hung around them.

In Kobe, we had dinner at a sushi restaurant. The food was incredible and I ate more than my stomach was ready for, but every bite was worth it. Wasabi, rice, and fish taste so good together! We said goodbye to Yamamoto-san and drove back to Kawachinagano.

This week in school I discovered that the teachers don’t mind if I read during class! It’s a great way to spend my time and it’s very difficult to stay focused on studying Japanese for so long everyday. I love it! I also found out that I will be giving a speech to junior high school students might come to Nagano High School about the difference between Japanese school and American school. I’m excited to give it!

I’ve been feeling a cold coming on these last few days and today it really hit. I stayed home from school and mostly slept all day, but I’m feeling better. I hope my host mom will let me go to Japanese class tonight. Then I can actually do something today!

ありがとうございました！またね！

Wes