Category: Japan

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”

Koyasan part 1

People here in Japan were curious as to why I would want to go Koyasan.  It’s out of the way and nothing but temples.  Plus, it’s a little bit of a pain to get there when you have to tote a suitcase.  But, I decided to go becasue I thought it would give me a better glimpse into the traditional Buddhist element of Japan, clearer than just going to the main temples all the toursits go to.

Here’s some background on Koyasan from an excellent website on Japan and Japan travel called Japan Guide:

“Mount Koya (Koyasan) is the center of Shingon Buddhism, an important Buddhist sect which was introduced to Japan in 805 by Kobo Daishi (also known as Kukai), one of Japan’s most significant religious figures. A small, secluded temple town has developed around the sect’s headquarters that Kobo Daishi built on Koyasan’s wooded mountaintop. It is also the site of Kobo Daishi’s mausoleum and the start and end point of the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage.

 

Kobo Daishi began construction on the original Garan temple complex in 826 after wandering the country for years in search of a suitable place to center his religion. Since then over one hundredtemples have sprung up along the streets of Koyasan. The most important among them are Kongobuji, the head temple of Shingon Buddhism, and Okunoin, the site of Kobo Daishi’s mausoleum.”

So I made a reservation online to stay the night at a temple named Shojoshin-in, right next to the entrance of the famous cemetery, Okunoin.  What an amazing experience!  I arrived a just in time to check in as my journey there was a contiuous chain of just in time events, going from train to train to train to cable car to bus.

The train ride from Namba station in Osaka was spectacular.  As the train ascended into the mountains, you felt like you were leaving one world and heading into a place that was quite far removed and remote.  It turned out I wasn’t the only person on the train like I had thought, there were about 10 other people in the other three cars.  After the train, I had to catch a cable car to the top of the mountain and for that, I was the only passenger.  I missed the cablecar I was supposed to take since I had to make a short bathrrom stop.  It threw off my trip timing and it meant that I would have to hurry even faster once I got to the top.

I got to the top and caught my bus.  The fun of that was that the driver spoke no English and you had to push a button when you wanted the bus to stop.  It was hard to hear the station announcements.  Luckily, my stop was the stop everyone was waiting for so it ended up being no problem.  Shojoshin-in was just down the street about 25 yards but the main gate had been closed and it took me a minute to figure out how to get in.  I found a gardener who called someone to help me.

Continue reading “Koyasan part 1”