01/04/18 I need ro reach Koyasan today but I found some news online about a few stations not being reachable by train at the moment so I leave early to be sure I can make it on time. As I will spend 2 nights in the middle of nowhere with buddhist monks (hopefully some other tourists too),I decide to lock my big suitcase at the station and take only what I need for 2 days, as I will come back to Osaka for 1 night. It took me 45min to find the right train station in the underground maze of Namba station. I tagged the location of the locker on my phone to easily find it when I come back, hopefully I wont forget it this time.
After reaching Hashimoto station, I take another train to get close to Koyasan then a cable car (which was repaired yesterday!) to reach Koyasan itself, a religious town full of temples. My hotel for 2 nights is Kongo Sanmaiin, a temple where I get to see the monks praying early in the morning. The monks also prepare 2 vegetarian meals for the guests, for a traditional experience. I have my own room, really nice and traditional, with view on the inside garden, so peaceful. After check-in, I have time to explore the Daishi mausoleum and the cemetery of Okunoin, which has thousands of graves and a big temple. Another sacred site where we are not allowed to take pictures ?. Dinner is served at 5.30pm (I can see the Spanish guests not hungry but keen to try the food) in the building next to the temple, where we sit on the ground as per the Japanese traditional dinner setup. The platter is full of small bowls with various vegetarian dishes, rice and tea. I meet 2 South African ladies as we face each other for dinner. They are on a 2 weeks trip across Japan and tell me about the water conditions in their country, shared some tips about Koyasan as this is their second night in the area.
We are only allowed to shower between 4pm and 9pm, and some guests are a little unhappy and shocked about not be able to shower in the morning. At least we have a sink and a toilet in our rooms so we can manage. The shower is a shared bathroom, for women only. You are not allowed to bring slippers or towel inside so you better not be shy (mum you would love it ^^). At the end of the day we are all made the same, but I can’t help it, I feel funny sharing a space naked with strangers.
02/04/18 We are invited to join the monks during their praying ceremony at 6.30am. There is a seating area for us to watch and listen the monks praying and singing (or more humming I should say) for about 40min. The oldest monk, leading the ceremony, who is sitting in front of the main buddha statue, is slightly bending, and the longer it goes, the bigger angle he is making – I hope he won’t fall on his disciples that would be embarrasing – it feels like he is half falling asleep. Or maybe this is just meditation – I am no expert in this (Anna maybe you bring some light). It is quite rare that monks allow foreigners in their temple, especially during their rituals so I think we all feel priviledged to witness the ceremony. We also have the opportunity to join them and pray Buddha, make wishes and burn wooden bits into ashes. The oldest monk, after the ceremony, told us a long story about the temple and the previous monks who took care of it, unfortunately all in Japanese. After the ceremony, the breakfast is served and I get a chance to ask another lady who speaks English and Japanese what the speech was all about. I explored the area after breakfast as there are about 45 (!) temples spread across 2 km. Only a few restaurants and shops, but the entire area is dedicated to the temples. Locals live from tourism primarily and maintain the sacred buildings. The Koyasan area sits 900m above the sea so the air is pure and as we are in the middle of nowhere, it is quiet and peaceful.
There are buses that drive between the cable car station and the Daishi mausoleum but as all the stops are really close to each other, I didn’t buy the daily bus pass, as it is easy to walk everywhere. All temples are different but kind of look the same, and as I am done visiting by 2pm I go back to my room and wait for dinner.
