Temple Stay in Koyasan

On Instagram, I learned that Gayle King and Oprah just visited Japan for the first time and to see the cherry blossoms. With the longest delayed bloom in 10 years, they only got to see them at the very end. I’ve also seen Instagram videos where folks are mocking their discontent due to the last minute cold snap. So far, we continue to see them as we head south and I love that Gayle and Oprah were just here.

This morning, we headed to Nara Park which I also visited in 2017 (http://leadingalifeofcyn.blogspot.com/2017/12/gates-deers-and-lanterns.html). Justin had not been and we were greeted by the famous and sacred deer that wander freely:





They are very Japanese as they will actually bow to you:



Wafers are sold so you can actually feed them and although eager to eat, they are pretty tame:



We also saw many cherry blossoms along the path to the southern gate:







Below is the southern gate to Tōdai-ji (Great Eastern Temple), famed for its Great Buddha Hall:



And here’s the hall which is one of the largest wooden buildings:





There were more fully bloomed cherry trees here as well:





The crowds arrive to see one of the largest metal buddhas in the world:



There’s a column in the building that has a hole the size of the Buddha’s nostril and if you climb through it, you will reach enlightenment. We saw both kids and adults try to get to the other side:



The view as we left the building:



We found 1010 Cafe near the park where we ordered omelette rice and beef. The restaurant was more expensive than other places we have tried on our trip and was cash only. We agreed it made sense as we were in a restaurant plaza catering to tourists, but enjoyed our breakfast nonetheless. A collage below:



It took us a little bit to figure out how to pay for parking, but at least we got the credit card to work. There are metal sensors underneath the car that tracks the time at your space and a barricade that doesn’t lower unless you’ve paid - very clever and efficient!

Since we moved Nara Park to this morning, I decided to skip the drive down to Mount Yoshino which is famous for being covered with over 30,000 cherry blossom trees. It’s in the same direction to Mount Koya, but would have eaten into our time at Koya.

So we drove the two hours to Mount Koya which is a large temple settlement and the headquarters of the Koyasan sect of Shingon Buddhism. The original monastery was founded in 819 by the monk Kobo Daishi also known as Kūkai has now grown into a town with over 100 temples. A photo of our drive which included about an hour climb up the mountain on “Road to Hana” type turns:



We dropped off our luggage at our lodging and headed to Okunoin which is the largest cemetery in Japan with over 200,000 graves, many for monks and feudal lords:





We walked up the path to Gobyō-bashi bridge which marks the entrance to the inner sanctum of Okunoin. Here we poured water over the bronze statues of the Jizo to pray over the souls:



From here on you’re not permitted to take photos of the inner sanctum, but saw several tourists doing so. I just took one at the bridge which is lined with the old conifer trees and where I bowed out of respect:



The path ends at Tōrō-dō, the main hall of worship, built directly in front of the Gobyō, Kūkai's mausoleum. We’re not able to go into the mausoleum, but the main hall was very dark and felt very holy compared to other places that are overrun with tourists. Also in an hall nearby are over ten thousand lanterns, donated by pilgrims and worshippers, and lit in the hall in perpetuity. We took off our shoes and walked amongst the lanterns.

There’s a large number of corporate tombs at the cemetery with the first one established by Panasonic for their employees and families. They are meant to attract the attention of visitors. There’s a grave for termites for an extermination company and I took a photo of the one for Nissan and what I think is a coffee company:





We then drove to the head temple which is Kongobu-ji which had beautifully painted screens which we could not take photos of and the largest rock garden in Japan. Some photos of the visit of what we could take:









We then walked over to Danjogaran which is a sacred area. Konpon Daitō is the "Basic Great Pagoda" that according to Shingon Buddhist doctrine represents the central point of a mandala covering all of Japan. This pagoda and the Okunoin Temple form the large sanctuary:



The main hall and bell tower:





Nearby is also the family tomb of the famous shogun Tokugawa. Although we thought and saw that everything closes at 5 pm, when we arrived there was a sign saying it was closing at 4:30 pm today. We didn’t get to see it, but it was cool that they are buried here. It just shows how special this place is and validated by the many Japanese tourist groups.

We returned to Jokiin Pilgirm Lodging which I found on booking.com and I thought it would be interesting to experience a temple stay. You can see our white Prius parked all the way inside:



They were expecting us as our shoes had reserved spots as we changed into slippers:



The lodging and our room shown to us by the monk who checked us in:







Part of the experience is to try the temple cuisine which is strictly vegetarian. The vegetables were fresh and very nicely prepared as we enjoyed the tempura, the pickled vegetables, noodles, and etc. We rocked the provided Yukatas to get into the mood:





Our futons were laid out for us by a young monk and we opted to shower in the private bathroom. The bathrooms are shared here and most use the public bath like they do in Korean saunas. But there was no line for the private bathroom so we took advantage.

This is a once in a lifetime experience to get here and to observe the Buddhist way of life as we are lulled to sleep by the sound of a gonging bell…