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Published: July 19th 2006
A teacher I used to work with, and now one of my closest friends in Innoshima is Hiroka Katayama. I call her Katayama sensei (because that's the polite way to address her). She always brings me food, and occasionally takes me places. It has been so great having her as a friend. She has introduced me to how a Japanese household works, which I wouldn't have experienced otherwise. She has also fed me many times when my fridge was very empty! This weekend she invited me (as a birthday present) to visit Wakayama Prefecture to see
Koyasan, a famous mountain and religious centre in Japan.
It was a 6 hour bus ride to get there. The day started when Katayama-sensei picked me up at 5:30a.m. to drive to the bus centre. It was a full bus, and I was the only foreigner....and only person under the age of 30! The day was extremely rainy and gray....so it was difficult to wake up and get in sightseeing mode! However, once we arrived I was ready to go!
Our first stop was a temple to see a famous poem written on a scroll, and then have lunch with some monks. For
me, the lunch was the most interesting part. I really didn't understand the rest! They lined us in two rows facing each other. Each person had their own table and cushion, complete with a full vegetarian meal. Buddhist monks are full vegetarians. At this temple they were really surprised to see me. All of the people there commented that they get very few foreigners to visit. In fact everywhere we went today, people mentioned that they don't usually see foreigners. I would guess that it's because it is such a mission to get up the mountain!
Koyasan is the headquarters for the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism. Originally just a single monastery hidden in the mountain, Mt. Koya has turned into a city of 100 temples, and a centre for Buddhism study. The most spectacular sight of the day for me was the Okunoin cemetary. Unfortuantely it was pouring rain during our time there, so I couldn't take any pictures. Deep in the forest there is a never ending cemetary filled with moss covered graves, memorials and statues. The trees were enormous and perfectly green. Beautiful! We visited and prayed at a few major temples to finish our day.
offerings to the gods can be anything....
....even a can of Asahi beer! You never know when they might get thirsty!It was another wonderful day to add to my endless list of great memories this year.
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mom
non-member comment
you are lucky
It looks like you had an interesting day with your friend. She has taught you a lot about the culture. It was nice to have met Katayama sensei, please say hi from us.