Kansai Adventures – Part 2

Nara
After a somewhat later-than-expected start (trend here?), we went to the train station and booked our tickets to Nara, the ancient capital. We had a reservation at a temple on Koya Mountain, a holy Buddhist Mountain with over 100 temples and the headquarters for the Shingon sect of Buddhism, for the next night (which means you have to be there around 4 in time for dinner). What this also meant was that we could only afford to spend less than an hour in Nara once we got there, although it was indisputably still worth the trip. We put our suitcase in a locker at the station and cabbed it to Todaiji Temple, the world’s largest wooden building, and spent some time exploring the premises, playing with the tame, wild deer wandering the surrounding areas, and checking out the giant, golden Buddha inside the temple. In the back of the temple, there is a large, wooden pole/beam with a hole in it, exactly the size of the Buddha’s nostril. If you can squeeze through the opening, you will supposedly obtain eternal enlightenment (or be really lucky?). I somehow managed to make it through when Kristin and I visited Nara in February, but Claire opted out of that fun little adventure, and we hit the gift shop instead before heading back to the station. The temple and the beautiful surrounding forest are spectacular, and both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, so even though it was a brief visit, both Claire and I were happy we stopped.
Koyasan
When Claire decided she was coming to Japan, visiting Koyasan (the holy mountain, center of Shingon Buddhism and “a treasure house of esoteric culture”, named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004) was her first request, and I am so grateful to her for that. The trip was such a magical experience; something straight out of a Miyazaki film, displaying the true majesty and mysticism of Japanese nature and culture. We knew we wanted to stay in a temple, but as with many things in Japan, the processes for arranging a temple stay on Koyasan was extremely formal. For example, not unlike our visit to the Imperial Palace, we needed to apply in advance and be granted special permission to stay. We were assigned to Shojoshin-in Temple after specifying a price range (a night at one of the 53 temples in the cooperative starts at 9,500Yen pp). When you first arrive at Koyasan, I think what strikes you most is the vast green mountains. They say Kukai founded the first temple here after a pilgrimage to China over 1000 years ago) because the surrounding mountain peaks looked like a lotus flower. They are the dramatically steep, yet narrow, type I knew existed in southern China, but had yet to witness beyond depictions on scrolls I have seen. We took a mountain train (not the cable car) to the top of the mountain and proceeded to our designated temple by bus. Despite it’s status as a major pilgrimage site and ancient religious mountain, Koyasan has a small town with shops and restaraunts lining the streets, and even a convenience store downtown, so does not seem as remote as one may expect. Our temple was pretty central, too.