Monastery time - Japan at Cherry Blossom 2023 - 11
26.03.2023 - Monastery time
Weather: raining all day long
Walking distance: 7,5 km
Today we are leaving Kyoto and heading to Koyasan [↗]. This is a sacred place in the mountains southeast of Osaka. The distance from Kyoto is not super far, but it's complicated to reach. We have to take 4 different trains, a cable car, and a bus. We leave our hotel in Kyoto at 8:30am and reach the monastery after 2pm. Luckily we don't have to carry all our luggage but use the Takkyubin service again.
Arriving at the monastery we have to take off our shoes and are friendly greeted by a young priest from Turkey who lives now in Tokyo but is coming to the monastery frequently. In the monastery, we don't have single rooms, so I have to share one. The rooms do not have private bathrooms. I have to go to the toilet one floor below in a public area. The rooms are large and instead of a bed we have futons, but they have air conditioning and wifi. Somehow it feels like being in a hostel, although it is an active monastery. Dinner and breakfast are included, both vegetarian style. And who wants, can join a meditation session in the morning.
The main attraction of Koyasan is the Okunoin cemetery [↗] in the forest at the end of town. It's still raining pretty hard, but skipping it is not an option. So together with a couple I start walking. One way should take us half an hour or so, but halfway we decide to take a bus.
The cemetery starts with a modern part where also companies bought graveyards for their high-ranking employees. The graveyards range from ordinary to extreme - including a rocket. Then comes the older part and of course that is much more interesting. Somehow the weather suits this place with all the moss. I hide my camera under my jacket, take it out when I see something interesting, and quickly put it away again.
There is an inner area where you are not allowed to take pictures, but otherwise, you are free to move around and take photos.
The longer we're in the rain and the colder it gets (we're down to 7°C and the temperature continues to drop), the more we say goodbye to the idea of returning here after dinner when it's dark. For the same reason, we take the bus back to the monastery.
Dinner is surprisingly good - you can even order beer or sake. After dinner our tour guide is giving a lesson about Buddhism and a lot of the group joins him. Some are going to the onsen and I return to my room to prepare tomorrow’s visit to Osaka and write this travelogue.
