10,000 torii and a journey to enlightenment
We began our day by retracing our footsteps from last night to Fushimi Inari Shrine. It was much better during the day, despite the rain – we could actually see what was beyond all of the Torii! We found numerous shrines tucked into the wooded trails that meander through the torii pathway, many with stone foxes, which are said to be messengers of the gods. We also found a beautiful lake that we would have completely missed if we had walked that far in the dark.
We didn’t make it all the way to the end of the 10,000 torii pathway because we were short on time, and it was starting to rain even harder. I think the rain added to the experience: the sound of the rain drops, the sheen it gave the vermillion torii, and the smell of wet earth. Very calming.
We began our trip to Koyasan around 11am. The trip seemed quite daunting: four train rides, one cable car ride and one bus ride to make it up the mountain. We began by taking the Hikari shinkansen to Osaka, then caught the subway to Namba Station. From there, we took the Nankai Koya Line to Hashimoto. By the time we reached Hashimoto, the modern train stations of steel and lights had diminished into simple wooden structures jutting out of the countryside. We got on our last train to Gokurakubashi, which screeched up the mountain and afforded a spectacular view of exactly how far we’d fall if the train were to dislodge from its track. Fear aside, it was a beautiful journey and we hardly noticed that the trip had taken upwards of two hours at this point. From our last train stop, we boarded a cable car, which took us up a very steep climb to the Koyasan basin. The last part of our journey was a 10 minute bus ride up a very winding road to the town.
I thought this journey up the mountain would be insanely difficult, given all the transfers and the short amount of time to make them, but it was quite effortless. It was even easier than navigating Kyoto Station, which we still had not figured out when we left Kyoto earlier today (you know a building is confusingly built when you need to use a compass INSIDE the building). The signage on this trip was great, they were all in English, and everything was on schedule. To anyone fearing the trip: Do not fear. Just follow the signs, get a Koyasan round trip ticket to cover all your fares in one shot, and go.
Now, about our lodging: We are staying at Shojoshin-in, a Buddhist temple situated beside the side entrance to Okunoin, a huge cemetery. The temple itself is more than 1,150 years old, with the guesthouses around 150 years old. We were greeted promptly by a monk who checked us in and showed us to our room, which overlooks a pond and the side of a mountain covered in beautiful trees that whistle when the wind rushes through. It’s incredibly gorgeous – the room has a tatami-floor, with sliding screen doors and futon bedding. We even have a tearoom with a balcony. The word “unworthy” comes to mind again.
After dropping our bags off and taking a moment to pinch ourselves, we set out to visit a few of the many temples in Koyasan. We saw the Danjo Garan complex, which houses the oldest structure on Mount Koya and a number of other beautiful buildings; the Tokugawa Mausoleum; and Daimon, the enormous gate of Koyasan which overlooks the mountain range. We left Daimon around 4:45pm, and we had to be back to our temple by 5:30 for our dinner. We were planning on catching a bus back, but it turns out that buses don’t run between 4 and 6pm, so we did some major powerwalking back to Shojoshin-in. We made it just in time for our Shojin ryori dinner, which is a Buddhist vegetarian meal. The variety of food was incredible, as was the room we ate in: we were all by ourselves in a tatami-floor room with painted sliding doors. I was unable to finish everything, but I think Casey managed to get through every dish in front of him – there were about 12 dishes in all.
After dinner, we explored the garden and pond outside the temple.
