A day trip to Koya-San

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Koya- San: A monastic complex in the peaks surrounded by forests. Again another high priority on my to do list however this time I had got over excited when reading the guidebook so much so that only once we were sitting on the cable car to go up the mountain did Al point out that the wonderful beach with white sand and pacific waters was in another district a couple of hours away! (It was only one of the main reasons I wanted to go there along with the hope of jumping into an onsen (outdoor spa). So no oceans and no onsens just more temples. You win some you loose some.

Originally I wanted to stay in Koya-San in a temple lodging (Shukubo) where you dine on vegetarian dishes prepared by the Buddhist monks and in some cases take part in their daily rituals, however staying on a tatami mat seemed to be over our budget.
So day trip it is. Again I won’t bore you all with the temple talk but the most interesting part for us was a massive cemetery (Okunoin) where every Buddhist worth his salt is buried there. The tombstones are covered in moss and looked hundreds of years old along with the statues that pilgrims throw water over. Inside the lantern hall burn thousands of yes you guessed it lanterns, two which have been believed to be burning over 900 year’s humm? It’s quite an eerie place but at the same time so peaceful with the cobbled paths lined with really tall Cyprus trees. Time to get out of the dead centre of Koya- San we head back to Osaka to catch our Shinkansen train back to Tokyo.

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Comments

[anonymous]

Please book me a spot at the burial site. I'm working on being a salty buddhist. I'm so proud of you guys.. it looks fantastic. Keep the stories coming and more photos of your tanned faces please! Nin's wedding was lovely.. missed you madly