Welcome to Koyasan. This town, nestled at the top of Mt. Koya between eight different peaks, has the largest concentration of Buddhist temples in Japan, over seventy in all. The peaks at the top of the mountain form the shape of a lotus flower, one of the major symbols of Buddhism. In 819 AD, a monk named Kobo Daishi Kukai came here to build a temple. His goal was to create a place away from society where Buddhists could come and meditate in peace without the distractions of the material world. He built the temple complex of Dai Garan. After he passed "into eternal meditation" his disciples finished construction of the complex, and others came and began building other temples. Soon local people began bringing produce and other goods up to the monks, until it became the town present here today.
Above you can see the old Gate to the town. It is a tall structure with two guardian statues built into it. It sits at the beginning of town and the main road that passes most of the sites.
We came to Koya by train from Kyoto. The last stop is at the base of the mountain and you have to take a cable car on rails to get to the top. Because the car was technically on the ground, Anna was less nervous, but I was a bit concerned. The slope was close to 60 degrees and it seemed like the car should have just slid back down the mountain. That didn't happen and we made it up to the top without incident.
We took the bus into town and arrived at the temple we were staying at, Shojoshinin. We traded our shoes for slippers (shoes are not allowed in any temple) and were shown our room. The room was very similar to the room we had at the Roykan, tatami mat floors and a thin mattress. We had a better view though, and a small balcony that overlooked the temple garden.
We had some time before dinner so we decided to walk around and see what was near. On our way out, Anna was walking behind me. As I passed through a doorway, I heard a strangled cry behind me and I turned to seen Anna standing in the hall with a worried look on her face. She was pointing into a room off the hall. I went back to see what was wrong, and inside the room, on one of the sliding rice paper doors was a spider the size of my hand. We had sent the majority of our luggage on to the airport from Kyoto, and we didn't have our bug net with us. We looked at each orher and we both knew that we weren't going to sleep very well that night.
We walked around for a bit and then returned to the temple for dinner. Dinner is always at 5:30 sharp. We went down, sat on cushions and enjoyed a completely vegetarian meal of rice, steamed vegetables, miso soup, some kind of rice ball wrapped in seaweed, and tea. It was better than the dinner at the Roykan, but there were still a few things neither of us really wanted to touch. I have found that I really do not have much interest in eating seaweed. It's too wet and slimy for me to choke down. Also, tofu is not really in my top foods list, though Anna seems to have aquired a taste for it. The biggest problem I had was that the room in which we ate dinner (and breakfast) was on the other side of the wall from where we saw the spider. We never saw it again, but I was continually checking corners.
Below are some pictures of the Temple grounds. It is a beautiful and serene place. Aside from monstrous spiders, it is a great place to relax.
This is the pond in the back of the temple. There is a colony of newts living in it that were fun to watch.
One of the back hallways.
Our bed. Simple, but not uncomfortable.
The hallway outside the dining room. Not a bad place for a meal.
Okay, now onto the town itself. We saw and did alot in the one day we were there so this may be a long post. I will try to be concise. In the morning we woke up at 5:30 am to get ready for the 6:00 ceremony. At about 5:50 a bell is rung repeatedly to let you know to come down to the main hall. We walked down and were greeted by the monk who checked us in. He didn't say anything, but bowed and led us into the hall.
The hall itself was elaborately decorated. There were many golden lotus flower statues, with two large ones in the center. On either side of the center altar
there were two glowing lamps that had golden dragons curled around the base. Behind those were two more lamps that were mostly covered by metal so that the designs in the metal seemed to glow on their own. One design that captured my attention was a circle with two wavy lines down the center, it was faintly reminicent of a three-sided ying-yang symbol. We found out later it stood for Universal Assistance.
There were three monks and after we were seated with the other guests, they began chanting. It was a captivating, slightly haunting sound that filled the room. The monks chanted for about 45 minutes using a large copper bowl that sounded like a bell when it was struck with a soft mallet, and a pair of cymbals that were crashed together at specific times during the chant.
It was interesting and quite beautiful to listen to. The only problem was the guests. A family came in after the ceremony had begun, and had to sit on the floor. They had brought their cameras and whispered and took photos the entire time. At one point one of the girls took a photo with a flash! The family was American and it made me embarrassed that I share the same nationality with them. I mean, would you go to a church and talk and take pictures while the priest is giving his sermon?! (For further ranting, please see the previous post "Are you a loud, rude American?")
After the ceremony, we ate breakfast (more rice and vegetables) and left to walk the town. Right next to our temple is the town graveyard. Many of the most important people in Japanese Buddhism are buried here along with many people from the town and surrounding area. After 1200 years, you can imagine how big it is. From the first bridge (where locals believe that the spirit of Kobo Daishi greets you and walks with you if you bow before crossing the bridge) to the end of the path, where a temple dedicated to Kobo Daishi sits, is a 2 kilometer walk. The graves lie in the mists of a forest of huge cedar trees, most of them well over 100 feet tall.
We had rented audio-guides from the local tourist office and learned much about the people buried in the graveyard. There is a lot of history there. The graves themselves are very ornate, and many have elaborate carvings and inscriptions.
At the end of the path, as I mentioned, there is a temple that supposedly sits in the place where Kobo Daishi sat and meditated before deciding that Koya was where he wanted to build his temple. It is small by temple standards, but it is considered the most spiritual place in Koyasan. Behind the temple there are a pair of candle lamps that have been continuously burning for over 1000 years. It's setting in the forest gives it a reverant sense about it.
From there we took the bus back into town to visit the rest of the major sites. We went to the Kongobuji Temple next. Kongobuji was built in 1593. After being rebuilt twice, the two temples on the site were combined. This temple still houses some administrative facilities for the local Shingon monks. The building is large with many rooms whose walls were covered in beautiful paintings. There is one room, called Jodan-No-Ma that was used for visiting dignitaries, and had a small room off to the side to house bodyguards in case of an attack.
There is a bit of a morbid side to this temple, however. The founder, Toyotomi Hidetsugu committed ritual suicide in the Willow Room when he felt that he had failed in his duties. It is a strange feeling to stand in a room where someone killed themselves 400 years earlier.
After Kongobuji, we went to Daishi Kyokai. We thought at first that it was just another temple, and we sat by the door for a moment and enjoyed the peace and smell of insence. Connected to the temple, however, was an education center that shows people more about the Buddhist religion. There was an option to receive a charm and the "Ten Good Precepts" or Ju-Zen-Kai from one of the resident monks. It sounded interesting, so I said okay, with Anna reluctantly following. It turned out to be the same initiation ceremony that is used for new monks. We were led into a dark room, heavy with the scent of incense, and joined in a chant. At the end, we were called up to the front, one by one, and received a charm from the lead monk. I'm not sure, but I think Anna and I have been initiated into the Buddhist religion.
After leaving a little dazed and confused, and with sore knees and ankles from kneeling for so long, we moved on to Dai Garan, the original site of the first temple built in Koyasan. There are two main temples there that we visited, the Golden Hall - Kondo, and The Great Stupa - Daito. They are both impressive buildings. Daito is 50 meters high and 30 meters wide. They both have large and ornate shrines inside. Each building has also been burned down (either by accident or lightning strike) and rebuilt several times. The last time, the builders decided to reinforce Daito with concrete to help prevent it from happening again.
After visiting the temples, Anna found a new friend. A stray dog began following her around the grounds. He was a small mutt and seemed friendly, though he was pretty skittish around other people. There was something about Anna he liked, maybe he knew she was a vet.
We walked down the street after that and saw the main gate to the city, Daimon. It is another very impressive structure. Bright orange with two guardian statues at the base. We enjoyed the site for a moment and then walked back. On the way to the gate we had stopped at a store and bought a premade dinner of fried chicken, noodles, and greens. We walked back to Dai Garan and found our little friend again. When he first saw us, he wasn't very interested, but as soon as I brought out the food, his ears perked up and he came leaping down the wall he was laying on. We opened the plastic tray the dinner was in and put it on the ground. I don't think he even chewed once before swallowing. That and the bottle of water we gave him were probably the only food he'd seen in a while. After saying goodbye, we made our way back to our temple for dinner.
The following morning (this morning) the ceremony was a little different. We took part in it. There was a Japanese couple staying at the temple who wanted to pay respects to their family members who'd passed away. After they went up to the alter and bowed and lit an incense, each person there went up and did the same. We each sprinkled a bit of dust on the insence and bowed. I'm glad we were able to take part. (I had a few more reservations. We weren't asked or warned about participating. I was quite surprised by suddenly being forced to pray in front of four monks. We are only guessing that someone had passed away. -Anna)
After breakfast we took a short nap to prepare for the long journey we'll have over the next two days to Uepi in the Solomon Islands. We took the cable car back down the mountain and got on the train to Osaka, where we switched to the Bullet Train to Tokyo. And here we sit.
So this is it. Here's where the real adventure begins. From Uepi we'll go to Australia to go diving. We may not have much access to Internet from here. We might be able to sort the blog out in Sydney, but most of the time we probably will be posting madly anytime we get to a wi-fi spot. At the earliest we won't be able to post for probably another two weeks. Wish us luck. I am reminded of a quote from The Lord of the Rings. It goes something like this:
"You have to carefull, Frodo my boy, when stepping out your front door. If you don't keep your feet about you, you never know where you might be swept off to." - Scott
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