Koyasan

An unexpected part of today's plan was that we were travelling without our luggage. One of the perks of holidaying in Japan is the ability to courier luggage between hotels on the cheap. You organise the shipping label and leave the luggage in the hotel lobby and go on your trip, a couple of days later you arrive at your next hotel - luggage in the lobby waiting for you. So for us, we departed towards Koyasan with just a rucksack, knowing our main luggage would be waiting for us in Hiroshima the next day.

We met up with the rest of our G Adventures gang and even met late comer and amateur rapper Maria, then jumped onto the Express Train to Hashimoto, the furnicular to Kamikosawa, the bus to Koyasan followed by a short walk to our accommodation at Jimyo-in Temple.

Koyasan is actually the centre of Shingon Buddhism, founded by Kobo Daishi. Our accommodation tonight is called a Shukubo. It's a kind of temple that offers lodgings. The rooms are basically Ryokans. Soft matted floors, almost paper thin sliding doors, with similar walls. They provided us with slippers and a yukata (one of many different types of kimono) to wear when moving around the complex. Part of the experience was participation in some meditation and the next day, watching morning prayers and the fire ceremony. The real treat however was the vegetarian evening meal we got to enjoy, the downside of course was, it was all whilst kneeling down. Cue lots of moaning and groaning as us older gentlemen had to stand up again.

Before all of the Shukubo activities though, we went for a walk into Koyasan for some sightseeing. First stop was Konggobu-ji Head Temple. Of the 4000 Shingon Buddhist temples, this is the head temple, with a lovely interior.

The complex also features a bunch of adjoining buildings and a Zen rock garden.

Walking out and taking a right we walked down Jabara-michi Temple Road towards another temple complex. Headstones sponsored by the wealthy lined the left side of the road as we started getting a glimpse of this temple complex.

First on the right was Konpon Daito Pagoda. A 48.5m tall pagoda, strikingly red on the outside, with you guessed it, no photos permitted inside. A small donation (JPY500) allowed us to enter, sans shoes, for a walk around the shrine in the centre of this single room building.

The last building we checked out was just a little further along is Kon-Do Hall, the temple complex main hall where Buddhist ceremonies are held. The current building is the 7th rebuild from 1932. We didn't go inside as there was a ceremony in progress.

We jumped onto the local bus for our last sightseeing stop of the day, located at the east end of town, Okunoin Cemetery. The significance of this place is it hosts the mausoleum of Shingon Buddhism founder Kobo Daishi. More than 2000 tombs are held here from all classes of people from townsfolk to military commanders and even corporation entities. Here are some photos! One of the tombs is by the Japanese Termite Prevention Association, dedicated to all the termites they have exterminated!

After a day of sightseeing, we returned to the Shukubo, dressed in our yukatas, and joined the G Adventures team for dinner. We enjoyed a vegan selection of vegetbles, sushi, miso soup and honestly I haven't got a clue about most of the items, but it was delicious. After dinner we took part in an origami folding class, freshened up in the onsen bath and then finished the night getting to know some of our travel team by drinking all the sake the temple could muster.

Staying one night was the right amount of time. The next morning, not too early a start, we dressed in our own clothes and joined all the other guests to observe the morning prayers with the throat chanting.

At the conclusion of the prayers we left the complex to a fire ceremony room next door, for some fire chanting, before we had a quick breakfast and packed up o set off.

We reversed our journey that we took to Koyasan to get back to Osaka, next destination Hiroshima.