Mount Koya or Koyasan in Japanese, was founded in 819 by Buddhist monk Kobo Daishi Kukai. After studying Buddhism in China, he came back to Japan, wanting to establish a monastery in the mountains. Today it's an UNESCO World Heritage site and is actually a small town consisting mostly of temples and monasteries. It is the headquarters of the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism. Many of the monasteries also provide lodging, known as Shukubo. I stayed in one of them - Saizenin. It costs ￥10,260 or about US$93 for 1 night.
To get to Koyasan from Nara, I had to take two trains and a cable car. There are many ways to get there by public transportation but none of them straightforward. Some tourists drive up there. First, I took a JR train from Nara to Shinimamiya. Then I took a Nankai Railway train from Shinimamiya to Gokurakubashi, which is at the foot of the mountain. Finally, I took a cable car from Gokurakubasi up to the town of Koyasan. There's more. To get to Saizenin, I took a local bus to the center of town, then walk about 1/2 mile to my lodging. At Shinimamiya station I bought a combined train, cable car, local bus ticket from Nankai Railway for about ￥3,400. It includes a reserved seat on the train, the cable car and unlimited rides on the local bus for 2 days. On the way back I have to pay another ￥780 for a reserved seat on the train back to Shinimamiya. What's the big deal about getting a reserved seat? It means you get a reserved seat and not having to stand in case it's full. It also usually means you ride on a nicer and not as crowded train.
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| Cable car up to Koyasan |
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| Bus Terminal at Koyasan |
The town folks are very helpful. I guess they have to since the entire town depends solely on tourism. I found the Saizenin monastery and was checked into the monastery by a young monk. I didn't realize it at first, but they even take credit cards for payment. After being shown to my room and walking around the facilities, I realized that this is no ordinary monastery. The whole place is set up like a ryokan although functionally, it is a monastery.
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| Entrance to Saizenin Monastery |
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| My room at Saizenin. On the right, in the middle, is a kerosene heater |
With only 1 day in Koyasan I wasted no time in trying to see as many places as possible. Luckily, the most famous of the places is right across the street from Saizenin. The Danjo Garan Complex consists of four buildings: the Konpon Daito (Great Pagoda), Kondo (Great Hall), Fudodo, and Miedo (Portrait Hall), Other places of interest include Daimon, Kongobuji, Reihokan Museum, Daishi Kyokai, and the Choishi-Michi Route. Obviously I didn't have time to go to all of them. I bought a combo ticket for six of the attractions: Kongobuji Temple, Reihokan Museum, Konpon Daito, Kondo, Tokugawake Reidai, and a Jukai at Daishi Kyokai. The last one is participating in a Buddhist service at a temple. I visited all six places in a span of about 4 hours. Some of them took only a few minutes to walk through. Nevertheless, they were all very interesting observations of the history and culture of the Buddhist faith.
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| Konpon Daito |
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| Kondo |
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| Entrance to Reihokan Museum |
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| Daishi Kyokai |
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| Tokugawa Mausoleum |
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| Kongobuji |
Another important area in Koyasan is the Okunoin. This is a cemetery and sacred area that extends 2 km. In this area are towering cedar trees and amongst the trees are about 200,000 gravestones and memorial pagodas for important historical figures and commoners. I only had time to walk about half-way but it was a pretty amazing sight to see all these tombstones scattered left and right of the path. At the end of this path (which I didn't get to) is the Kobo Daishi Gobyo or Mausoleum of Kobo Daishi, where it is believed that he remains in eternal meditation concentrating on the liberation of all beings. The mausoleum is the religious heart of Koyasan.
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| Okunoin - 200,000 tombstones among tall cedar trees |
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| One of the tombstones in Okunoin |
One interesting aspect of staying at a shukubo is that the meals are all vegan. The Buddhists don't believe in killing any living creature. So everything we ate was plant-based. Soy provides most of the proteins, in the form of tofu or added to some of the other food. Both meals were actually very tasty. With centuries of practice the Buddhists have refined their meals without killing any living things.
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| A vegan dinner |
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| A vegan breakfast |
It was an interesting visit to a sacred place. Most Japanese have heard of Koyasan but very few have been there. From Koyasan I go on to Kyoto.
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