We caught the early bus on Tuesday morning from Senkyoro-mae to Odawara, from where we would take the Shinkansen to Osaka. We needed to connect there to a train to get us to Koyasan. It was going to be a long day, so, we grabbed sandwiches and muffins at a bakery at Odawara to eat on the train. We got milk tea from one of the vending machines at the station. We got off at Osaka station, about 2.5 hours later. We took a subway ride to Namba from where we caught the train to Gokurakubashi. A 2-hour train ride and a short cable car ride later, we reached Koyasan.

Koyasan is the headquarters of the Shingon sect of Buddhism and is dotted with several temples and monasteries, many of which take in lodgers for the night. We had heard about Koyasan from a friend and wanted to include it in our trip to experience the more traditional side of Japanese life. We had booked our stay for the night at one such temple, Shojoshin-in – the only condition being that we attend prayer services in the morning. The bus from the cable car station let us off right outside the temple. The temple/monastery was quiet and peaceful, with blooming sakura trees that lined the entrance. We checked in and were led to our room on the 2nd floor. It was a Japanese style room that was divided into a sleeping area and a dining area. The dining area overlooked a well-manicured Japanese garden. Our hosts had informed us that dinner would be served at 5.30pm and we would receive a call when they were ready for us. We decided to take a short walk around town before the call for dinner. It was a small town – I think you could walk the entire length of it in 3-4 hours. There were several temples we saw during our walk. We headed back soon since we didn’t want to be late for dinner.

We received our dinner call shortly before 5.30pm. We were served dinner in a room with traditionally painted room partitions and bamboo-covered floors. It was served the traditional Japanese way – we would take our meals, sitting on the floor. Food prepared at temples and monasteries in Japan is vegetarian – no meat, no fish or even onions and garlic. The meal was elaborate and incredibly tasty. There was no one dish; there were several small plates – it was almost like Japanese-style tapas The chef had made use of vegetables like mushrooms, daikon radish, cucumber, cabbage and of course, tofu – the food was cooked simply. It wasn’t drowned in spices; there was just enough to embellish the natural flavors. It was one of the best meals I have eaten !

Our appetite more than satisfied, we decided to call it a night since we were tired from all the traveling and moreover, all the sights in town closed at 4pm

The next morning, we rose to attend the prayers at 6.00 am. The prayers were in the temple adjacent to the monastery. The walls of the room were made of dark wood panelling, decorated with gold-colored metal and there were lamps and other prayer objects all around the room. The air had the smell of freshly-lit incense. There were 2 monks in attendance – the younger monk chanted the prayers, reading from a book, while the older one prayed quietly. We sat behind the monks observing the proceedings.

The prayer ceremony lasted about 30 minutes, after which the younger monk led us to breakfast. Breakfast was similar to dinner the previous night, but less elaborate. After breakfast, we decided to head out to see some of the important landmarks in the town. We packed our bags and left them at the office so we could pick them up before heading back to Osaka.

We visited the Okuno-in, a cemetery that includes the grave of Kukai, who was the founder of Shingon Buddhism. One of the other guests at the temple had mentioned that there were English-speaking volunteers who would be giving a free tour of the cemetery at 8.30am. We waited outside the cemetery for the guides. The guides showed up promptly at 8.30am. They were from the Koyasan Cross-cultural Communication club and gave guided tours in English every so often to visitors. Our guides were two women, each with day jobs that had nothing to do with being tour guides but both had an immense passion for Koyasan and its history. The tour was fascinating – our guides spent almost 3 hours with us and another couple from Spain, giving us several details about the history of Kukai, the tombstones, the hall with lanterns, Japanese traditions, etc. We saw several pilgrims walking through the cemetery to pay their respects to Kukai. Our guides informed us that many Buddhists undertake to visit 88 of the most important temples in different parts of Japan and Koyasan is the final destination. Some of the tombstones were very lavish – there was one shaped like a rocket ! And, it was interesting to note that many companies like Nissan and UCC (the Japanese coffee company) had set up tombstones in memory of their employees who died while working there – hmmm … is that spirituality with publicity ??

At the end of the tour, we thanked our guides for their time and effort in educating us about Koyasan – it was extremely generous of them to take the time to do this for us. We had learned a great deal about the country and its traditions that morning !