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…

Like Driving in a Typhoon

After a morning dip in the onsen, we were escorted to breakfast in our private dining room. We listened to the same playlist from dinner last night which made us chuckle - it included “Amazing Grace” and “Time to Say Goodbye” by Sarah Brightman which my mom was once obsessed with. The dining at the ryokan is amazing, but their playlist should definitely be longer.

Our beautiful breakfast below, again not in a collage and in order to appreciate the presentation and details:







This soft boiled egg was wonderful:





This yogurt was probably the best I’ve ever had!



Also, my mom managed to take a photo of our awesome server and it gives you a feel for the room:



After enjoying coffees in the lounge, we shuttled back and forth in packing up the car and I tried to get CarPlay to work but failed. Here is a photo of the entrance and carp that my maternal grandfather loved, according to my mom:





Then we were off to Nagoya and Nara heading southwest. I used the car GPS as it was more in tuned to local alerts such as construction and detailed lane changes, and the Google Maps for flexibility as I struggled to punch in names and addresses in the car GPS. This combination was helpful as I would prefer the roadway signs to be larger. Thank goodness Justin reads Japanese and I was comfortable driving on the left side - this would be a lot otherwise. My mom took a photo during the morning:



Through mountain tunnels with openings that looked like curated gardens and cruising on elevated highways, I found the Japanese to be orderly drivers - not a lot of speeding or swipes and very calm. It rained moderately and we noticed so much fog hanging around the mountains - you could now understand why so many Japanese drawings depicted mountains and fog. We also passed many cherry trees and my mom did her best to capture them:



After about 3.5 hours, we arrived in Nagoya. It’s the 4th largest city and known for being the headquarters of Toyota and Brother Industries to name a few. I had picked Nagoya as an intermediate stop and an option of seeing Nagoya Castle which is a reconstruction after being destroyed during World War II.

But as we left a little later than planned, it’s not one of the top castles to see in Japan, and walking the grounds in the rain was not ideal, we decided not to enter. From the parking area, you could only see a little peek of the castle which has a few nicknames such as Golden Castle and Meijō. I did take a photo of the peak bloom of these cherry blossoms along the outer castle walls:



We popped into a cute restaurant for some coffee and tea, and red bean and mochi snack. Nagoya Castle made for an excellent rest stop!



Our original plan was to visit Nara Park for the Great Buddha and sacred deer, but at this point, the rain started to really come down. Also Justin was not feeling well, so we decided to head straight to the hotel. In the 2 hour drive to Nara, the rain came down so hard, the windshield wipers were on the fastest setting. I was amazed by the rain and Justin reminded me about the typhoon weather here as he took this photo:



Eventually the rain let up and at a service area, I took a photo of some cherry blossoms and the fog that we saw all day:



After circling off the elevated highway, we arrived at Fairfield by Marriott Nara Tenri Yamanobenomichi which is south of Nara. I had planned to come here after the park, and on our way south to Mount Koya. It’s a bit in the burbs, but the hotel is immaculate as it just opened 2 years ago. A sakura lined road in Tenri:



Dinner choices were a bit limited to chains as restaurants appear to close early here, so my mom and I walked to Marukatsu next door which is a low key katsu restaurant. My mom ordered a pork and shrimp set and I had chicken. A collage below of our respective sets:



We were surprised how well the katsu was fried and prepared and combined, only cost ~$18. As the young server explained using English note cards that we can have refills of rice and cabbage, she also advised it was “cash only”. I only had ¥1,000 (~$6) and she said there was no ATM onsite and closing in 30 minutes. She offered for us to come back in the morning and pay, but I decided to ring Justin who came over with his last ¥2,000. I thought maybe I missed the “cash only” sign and without Justin, we did fumble through the ordering with pointing and pictures. But the waitress kept apologizing to us there was no sign. I did notice a QR code for Alipay and Justin and I agreed they needed an option for Chinese tourists.

Justin also remarked that it was helpful he didn’t have an appetite as we didn’t have enough cash. With our coins, I’m sure we could have come up with the amount for a 3rd small set, but I guess we’ve become too reliant on our Pasmo / Suica cards! As Justin noted, we are clearly not in Tokyo anymore as the servers didn’t speak any English, cash only, and trusted us to pay tomorrow…

In order to save time later in the week, my mom and I headed to a gas station. Thank goodness for Google translate with a camera option, so I could decipher the instructions without my brother. We also stopped by the local 7 Eleven for cash and Choco Monako Jumbo that was in an algorithmic Instagram post. It was deliciously light and so popular that apparently, 1 is sold every 0.17 seconds!



Then we headed back to the hotel. Also, today is the 3rd anniversary of our dad’s passing. It’s nice that we’re spending so much time together and as my mom said, it’s nice that all of us will be together the first time we’re in Korea after his passing. We are definitely getting in a lot of quality time - over 5 hours in the car alone today!