Date: December 28, 2006
Location: Koyasan, Wakayama Prefecture
Who? Laura, Yamamoto-san and Mayumi-san
Info: (Here's what my guidebook says about Koyasan) On a tall plateau in the midst of lush forests sits Koyasan, birthplace and mecca of the Shingon Buddhist sect, founded here by monk Kobodaishi in 816. Even Koyasan's geography is a multi-layered symbol - a plateau surrounded by eight mountains, each of which represents a petal of the lotus blossom, a representation of the universe in Shingon Buddhism. How cool is that?
It amazes me how many cable cars there are in Japan... or is this a funicular? Here's me and Mayumi-san (below), enjoying the ride up the mountain.
Okunoin
Info: This a huge cemetary. There are over 200 000 tombs, including Kobodaishi, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, some Edo-period emperors, famous samurai and even kabuki actors. There is also a more modern section of the cemetary that has some interesting shaped monuments. See if you can spot one in the pictures below...
[Dad - there was some great moss here...]We stopped for some lunch and to warm up (it had started to rain) and while we were eating it started to blizzard! By the time we emerged from the restaurant, the ground was covered and the entire mountain was transformed into a beautiful, snowy, quiet place.
At one point the bell in this bell tower (below) started ringing. We walked around to get a better look at the monk ringing the bell, only to see that there was no monk! Was is automatic? Was there a monk somewhere sitting in an office, sipping green tea and hitting the bell button? Who knows...
Kongobuji Temple
Info: The main temple of Shingon Buddhism (below). It was built by Hideyoshi Toyotomi in the memory of his mother. I read later that there is a room in the complex where Hideyoshi's adopted son committed seppuku. He was strongly pressured by his adopted father to disembowel himself after Hideyoshi fathered a biological son. Nice dad.
[above - Kondo Hall]
[above - Daishi Hall]
Special thanks to Yamamoto-san and Mayumi-san for taking me here. I had a great time talking with you two and walking around Koyasan in the snow!
5 comments:
The little bit of fog makes it all rather surreal. Glad to hear it's all going well. Let me know if you're up for a chat. Lately I've been living via Japan hours (insofar as I don't sleep at night), so the time difference won't be much of an issue.
Fil
Laura
You seem to have the background story on everything - Why not tell us who’s buried in the tea cup??
Well at least everyone knows, a father like Hideyoshi I am not. I'm too obsessed hunting for GREAT moss. Maybe that’s a good thing!
The descriptions of your travels are fantastic but what a frenetic pace your maintaining on your blog entries. I’m starting to check twice a day to make sure I don’t miss anything. Keep it up!
Take care and BE SAFE.
Love Dad (and Mom and Christopher)
* MAKE SURE YOU SCROLL DOWN - You don't want to miss any entries!
I am enjoying the background info I've been able to find on brochures and in my guidebook too...although who knows if some of it is true.
As for who is buried in the tea cup - I asked Yamamoto-san about these company graves and supposedly some of them are for employees who have been killed on the job (eek) or for CEOs, etc.
I'm trying to catch up with my holiday entries so that I can post pictures from the places I've been since the new year...hopefully by the end of the week...
I haven't missed any entries! I try to comment on all of them, but if I'm not feeling particularly witty, then I sometimes don't.
Hurrah for peaceful Japan! Nashville is anything but... Miss you loads.
And that evening, we had the delicious pasta that Laura-san cooked for us.
Thank you, Laura-san. We miss you.
Machiko
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