Located in Mount Koya, Koya-san is a destination of extreme importance within Japanese Buddhism. Founded in the early 800s, it remains a pilgrimage site, similar to the Camino de Santiago, and represents the heart of Shingon Buddhism. From my understanding it is a location many Japanese nationals hope to visit at some point in their life.
Our travel to arrive in Mount Koya would not be as hard fought as pilgrims. We needed to take a train ride and some bus rides to arrive, but it was not short by any means and provided nice views of the countryside.
The town is extremely small and really nice. Everyone there was friendly and wanted to help. I think another day spent there would have been nice to really take everything in.
We stayed the night in the temple called Shojoshinin Temple. It permitted us to experience, briefly the life of buddhist monks. There would be some rules we had to follow, who would have guessed.
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Aina looking great and about to love the veg life.
Traditional beds with extra covers and pillows filled with small beads of some sort that your grandmother would use to support her lower back, but still comfy. It was cold up in the mountains and they provided gas heaters in the rooms, but the gas I think gave everyone headaches so we didn't use it. The entire temple though was filed with the fumes. I kept saying I had a headache and Montse claimed I was overwhelmed with the energy given off by the temple.
Look, a beautiful pond. The grounds on the temple were beautiful and I can only imagine how nice it must be in Spring and Fall with he changing of seasons.
Dinner time - 5:30 PM
The diet of monk consists of all vegetarian food as they do not believe in eating sentient life. Their diet also consists of eating the food prepared in six different methods. My favorite each meal were the beans. Who doesn't love beans!?! Protein and fiber, please and thank you.
Oh and we wearing kimonos. I hesitated at first and then thought, "Yeah, yeah we're wearing kimonos." They were more comfortable than expected and seemed to suit us.
At 10 AM we left the temple to explore further Koyasan. Our temple was next to Okunoin Cementery which leads to the mausoleum of Kobi Daishi and founded Koya-san. He is one of the most revered spiritual figures of Japan.
I was not able to participate in all the walking as I needed to rest. Aina ventured on and saw many more temples.
Our travel to arrive in Mount Koya would not be as hard fought as pilgrims. We needed to take a train ride and some bus rides to arrive, but it was not short by any means and provided nice views of the countryside.
The town is extremely small and really nice. Everyone there was friendly and wanted to help. I think another day spent there would have been nice to really take everything in.
We stayed the night in the temple called Shojoshinin Temple. It permitted us to experience, briefly the life of buddhist monks. There would be some rules we had to follow, who would have guessed.
Aina looking great and about to love the veg life.
Traditional beds with extra covers and pillows filled with small beads of some sort that your grandmother would use to support her lower back, but still comfy. It was cold up in the mountains and they provided gas heaters in the rooms, but the gas I think gave everyone headaches so we didn't use it. The entire temple though was filed with the fumes. I kept saying I had a headache and Montse claimed I was overwhelmed with the energy given off by the temple.
Look, a beautiful pond. The grounds on the temple were beautiful and I can only imagine how nice it must be in Spring and Fall with he changing of seasons.
Dinner time - 5:30 PM
The diet of monk consists of all vegetarian food as they do not believe in eating sentient life. Their diet also consists of eating the food prepared in six different methods. My favorite each meal were the beans. Who doesn't love beans!?! Protein and fiber, please and thank you.
Oh and we wearing kimonos. I hesitated at first and then thought, "Yeah, yeah we're wearing kimonos." They were more comfortable than expected and seemed to suit us.
We got pretty serious. Montse has been in heaven on this trip and in particular loved this visit. As much I throw jokes with her too much, it has been a pleasure sharing the trip with her. We differ on some opinions and views, but she and Aina suffer me better than anyone and for that I am ever grateful.
In the morning we awoke to a gong being rung. It was 6:30 AM and time to pray.
We went and watched a monk perform a morning prayer and then were given our breakfast.
At 10 AM we left the temple to explore further Koyasan. Our temple was next to Okunoin Cementery which leads to the mausoleum of Kobi Daishi and founded Koya-san. He is one of the most revered spiritual figures of Japan.
I was not able to participate in all the walking as I needed to rest. Aina ventured on and saw many more temples.
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