Month: September 2011

Onto Kyoto

Leaving Koyasan was a hot, humid journey.

I took the bus from Shojoshin-in Temple to the cable car station and had to stand for the ride since the bus was small and there wasn’t anywhere to put my suitcase.  I was already sweating profusely before I boarded the bus and the lack of air conditioning only made that worse for me.  Also, I was stressed as I had to pay close attention to the time for this journey.  In order to arrive in Kyoto at a decent time that evening, I had to make the 3:19pm cable car from Koyasan so that I could catch the 3:30pm train back to Osaka. A tight train schedule getting to my next destination, Kyoto.

I bought my ticket for the return trip to Osaka the day before as part of a Koyasan travel package.  What I didn’t realize though, was that it wasn’t a direct train- I’d have to transfer to another train halfway to Osaka.  Plus, I wouldn’t have an assigned seat, which I wanted.  So at the top station of the cable car, I went to the ticket window to change it to the express train, but had no success.  Trying to change that ticket was my only time encountering any sort of problems with my lack of Japanese speaking ability as the older ticketing gentleman didn’t want to take the time to help me.  He just kept telling me the type of ticket I already had and waved me away.  So, I let it go, deciding that I would deal with it at the bottom station, and got on the cable car.  I dragged my stupidly heavy suitcase down the steep steps to the bottom of the car platform to board it at the front so as to save time at the bottom.  It was so hot and I was really starting to sweat.

The view back up to the top of the cable car platform. Continue reading “Onto Kyoto”

Okunoin Cemetery (Koyasan part 4)

Okunoin Cememtery

So after breakfast I returned to my room to pack and get checked out.  I was sad to be leaving after such a short stay, but onto the big adventure for the day-Okunoin Cemetery.  However, it didn’t take me long to get sidetracked on my way out the temple.  As no sooner was I 20 feet from my room, than the tripod was out and I was shooting.  The place was just too beautiful and every time I turned my head, I saw something new and interesting.

I spent the next hour shooting around the pond that I had been looking at as I ate.  The closer I looked, the more I noticed like the giant spiders or new fish swimming in the pond.  There were little details everywhere that just begged to be discovered.

The monk, who didn’t speak English, was doing his daily routine of cleaning and had made his way to where I was.  He found a gecko that was clinging to an inside window of a door  and summoned me over to show me.  These geckos apparently only live indoors here and it seemed I was lucky to have been able to see one.  I tried to photograph it, but it just didn’t seem to want to have its picture taken as it did it’s best to hide, eventually climbing away behind the wall. The monk then took me to a corner of the pond to show me the frogs that I had missed as they were completely camouflaged and making no noise.

I could have stayed for several days just photographing inside the temple itself and never exploring any other part of Koyasan.  I still spent another half hour wandering around the grounds of the temple after checking out before finally going into the cemetery. Continue reading “Okunoin Cemetery (Koyasan part 4)”

Koyasan part 3

I slept incredibly well and woke up before my 5:30am alarm.  One interesting aspect of staying at the temple lodging is that you are required to attend the morning Buddhist ceremony. No participation, just attendance. I was a little worried about being able to get up easily for this before my trip but I had zero problem.  In fact, I really enjoyed getting up that early.  The hadn’t risen very high and the temple had a really nice atmosphere to it.  As I was getting dressed, I realized hat I couldn’t remember if somebody was going to come and get me, like with dinner, or if i was just supposed to go by myself.  Well at about 5 minutes before 6am, I heard the official bell so I grabbed my stuff and split.  On the way, it donned on me that I never took the time to figure out where the main hall of the temple was and so first I ran outside, put my shoes on and headed, in what I thought, was the right direction.  It was the right way, but I needed to stay inside the temple so I ran back to the front door, dropped off my shoes and hurried down the hallway it because now it was 6am. Side Note: I love the sound that is made when you hurry down the wooden hallways. The creaking of the wood and the sliding of slippers instantly takes you back in time.

I got to the main hall just as the morning prayers were getting under way.  I was finally able to confirm that I was the only guest staying there since I was the only other person besides the two monks.  I had my camera with me of course and spent the first 20 minutes deciding how disruptive the clack of the shutter would be.  I absolutely did not want to be rude or interrupt them so I pulled out the iPhone and took some shots and a little video.  The angle was tough in that I was only about four feet behind them and they were slightly behind some pillars.  I got a couple decent shots but decided I had to go for it with the DSLR.  My Mark 3 has a “silent” shutter mode which is a little quieter in that it delays the mirror return until you release your finger from the shutter release button.  It is however not as silent as a rangefinder, you can still hear, especially as close as I was to them.

Continue reading “Koyasan part 3”

Koyasan part 2

So dinner was wonderful, simple and really not that unfamiliar since it was a lot like other Kaiseki meals I have had at Ryokan’s before.  The only difference was the absence of meat.  It filled me up for sure and gave me the energy to get moving again.

I slowly made my way back up to my room to grab my tripod. I forgot that it gets darker earlier here so I was going to need some support to shoot in the dark. I started shooting around the darkened temple first.  It was so quiet. I then headed out to the streets and wandered up a bit into the town.  Not much to see though as everything was closed.  I did however start to hear a loud crowd coming my way which turned out to be school kids heading into the cemetery for a little nighttime tour.  I decided to go into the cemetery as well.

Continue reading “Koyasan part 2”