CODY SHIMIZU

A look into my life, a journal to look back on, a blog for others to see.

Koyasan, its not a very popular or a well known tourist destination yet, and the only reason I found out about this place was from a picture that I saw when I was researching for the trip, it was absolutely beautiful. It was this path that cut through a sea of tombstones over towered by big trees and some covered in moss. As soon as I saw the photo I knew I wanted to go there especially since this trip was a bit of a “Photography” trip for me as couldnt take my bike with me.

I woke up bright and early to try and get to Koyasan as soon as possible, it would be a combination of a train, cable car, and a bus ride to get to Koyasan. From the Shin-Imamiya station in Osaka I got onto the train heading towards Koyasan and it was so empty that I had to triple check to make sure I was in the right place! As we went further and further from Osaka, next thing I know the train is snaking around sides of mountains with absolutely beautiful views down into the valley. After about 2hrs on the train we transferred onto a cable car, pulling us pretty much directly up the side of the mountain, from there it was a short bus ride into town. Even the town itself was very small with a limited number of restaurants and shops.

At Koyasan I would be actually staying in a real temple! It is common in Koyasan to have people staying in Temples, it is called a Shukubo, and it is a way for the temples to generate income, increase tourism in Koyasan, and for tourists like me to have a taste of a monks life. So during the stay I got to participate in the Buddhist style meditation, Morning ritual, a fire ritual, and have some Buddhist food which is completely vegetarian.

When I got to Koyasan I went to the temple I was staying at and checked in and quickly headed out to the path leading to Okunoin Temple. The Okunoin temple is the most sacred temple in the area and it was founded over a 1100 years ago, and since then people from across the country has been burying their friends, family and loved ones along the 1.6Km path and erecting an tomb stone in memory of them. Now there are over 200 000 tombstones along the path which creates an amazing atmosphere as I approach the Okunoin Temple. Even though I was alone walking along this path through this graveyard surprisingly I didnt feel scared or eerie at all, I was just in awe of the scale and the beauty of the whole entire area as a made my way through.

Once you get to just outside the Okunoin Temple there is a little creek, and you cross the bridge and the other side of the bridge is the most sacred area, where there are signs asking you to be quiet and take no photographs, etc. From the temple I could hear monks reading out Okyo constantly never ending, and all around the temple there are lanterns hanging from the roof, all metal lanterns, and hundreds of them, it was absolutely beautiful. The whole entire atmosphere of the area was incredible. Afterwards I went to visit the Kongobuji temple which was on the other side of Koyasan. After a quick bus ride I was there the temple was quite large and the structure was beautiful, they had a beautiful rock garden out back, as well. But coming from the Okunoin Temple it was hard to appreciate its actual beauty.

Then I made my way to the Garan where it was a large ground with many different cultural buildings close to each other. Where they had a Kondo Hall, Pagoda, small temple. It was very well preserved to keep the cultural significance of the area. Although some English descriptions explaining each building would have been nice. I made sure to be back by 4Pm to participate in the meditation session ( I know, like me? Doing meditation!?) Anyways it was nice, since there were enough forigners staying at the temple, they separated the group into English and Japanese. Of course I went with the English group. It was nice and educational as the monk would explain to us the why and how of the reason they meditate. In all honesty, it was nice for about 2 minutes my mind was all over the place, (bike, life, bike = Life, bike 4 life? Bike + Life = Happy Life!!?? ) Anyways we probably only sat there for about 15 minuits of actual meditation. At around 6 was supper, we would be eating our own rooms which was nice, gave me time to go through all of the photos I took earlier that day.

The meal was incredible, it wasnt like a traditional American meal where you have maybe a main dish with a side. It was a little taste of everything! At first it looked like it wasnt much food, and wondered if it would actually fill me up, but it definitely did, and everything is vegetarian! In the evening I had signed up for a night tour of the Okunoin temple where a monk would actually guide us through the trail that leads to the Temple. This was an absolutely amazing experience that was definitely worth it, the monk explained to us the reasoning behind all of the small details in the tombstones and even superstitions of the area. At night I thought the trail would be much more creepy but surprisingly it did not feel that way at all, although maybe it was because I was with a huge group of people. When we got to the Okunoin Temple the monk taught us the history of the building, and their belief and reasoning behind Koyasan, as well as the respectful way to enter and leave the grounds. This was really nice since for most of the trip I have always avoided tours to keep it cheap, and just not a big fan of having to be in a group.

After getting back I went for a quick dip into the public bath house, which thankfully I had all to myself. Then back in my room I started working on my Shakyo. Shakyo is where monks write out sutras to pass along and spread the knowledge of Buddhism, in reality for visitors, you actually just trace out the characters using a traditional brush as it is meant for tourists to experience what monks do, although they told me that it is one of the shortes suturas it still took me close to 1.5 hrs to trace out the whole thing, and as a bonus I had no Idea what it said.

The next morning when I woke up it was 6:25Am and the morning prayer starts at 6:30, So I jumped out of bed and threw “appropriate clothing” on and as I got out of my room, I saw another guest that I had met the night before just outside. He told me that since it was still winter time the morning prayer doesnt start until 7:00 Am. You will not know how relieved I was to hear that. So I took the extra time to go warm up in the public bath house and made it to the room where they have the ritual on time. There it was pretty much 30 min of monks reading out suturas, there was something mesmorising about it where it almost sounded like music as all the words seem to blend into a sound resonating through the room. After was the fire ritual, where they burn the Shakyo the guests and the monks wrote. As well as some pieces of wood with people wish`s written on them. It was amazing watching the monks making their way through the complicated ritual all while focusing and reading out the sutras.

After breakfast it was a maad rush to get out of Koyasan to try and get to Kyoto as soon as possible with the number of things I wanted to see in Kyoto.