Mt. Koya-san. The home of Japanese Buddhism.

We regretfully left Nara and took and train and mountain cable car to the holy mountain of Koya.  Our accomodations were at a Buddhist monastery called Eko-in.  Such a beautiful place, surrounded with natural beauty, and helpful monks.  I pressed "8" on the phone, said "beer, please," and immediately heard some foot steps, and a monk presented me with a deliciously cold Asahi in a basket.  We are converting to Buddhism.

Our Backyard at the monastery

The first touristy thing we did on Mt. Koya was to visit the Okuoin, or the last temple, on a monk-guided night tour.  Okuoin is the home to this sect of buddhism's founder Kukai, who was buried there in 835.  Okuoin is also Japan's largest graveyard.  It harbors over 200,000 graves/shrines (the Japanese just bury a single bone of the throat).  With a combination of the 1000 year old Japanese cedars that burst through centuries of old rock pathways and graves that have lost their inscriptions due to the unrelenting force of time, we were amazed by Okuoin, and it is hard to show in pictures or words.  It is really a magical place.

The first bridge into Okuoin.  You can see the path is lit and the giant cedars.

Just one shot of a thousand of the graves in this cemetery.

Okuoin is a little creepy at night.  By day, it is just beautiful.  Like a mix between a redwood forest in California, and an old cemetery in France.

Just one of the many huge trees.  It is actually bursting through a wall and pushing gravestones out of the way.

A very magical place.  The common gravestone seen with 5 shapes represents earth, water, fire, spirit, and air, to the buddhists.

There are several temples around Mt. Koya to enjoy, and a hike up a mountain peak to get a view of the surrounding mountains.  We had a very relaxing day of a long walk then a vegetarian dinner in our monastery.  We recommend Mt. Koya to anyone visiting Japan.  It is a nice break from all of Japan's bustling city life.

We are in this picture.  This pagoda was planned by Kukai himself.  It is much bigger than we thought it would be.  It is very bright and contains a nice Buddha.

Sondra celebrates after conquering the mountain.

Relaxing in our room for some dinner.