Today, Jay and I decided to go to Mt. Koya. Mt. Koya is the center of Shingon Buddhism. This buddhist sect was introduced in 805 by Kobo Daishi. A small town was built on Koyasan. THis is where Kobo Daishi’s mausoleum is located. The original Garan temple was started in 826. Since that time over 100 temples have been built along the streets of Koyasan, including tge Kongobuji, the head temple of Shingon Buddhism and the site of Kobo Daishi’s mausoleum, Okunoin.
To get to Mt. Koya, we had to take the Nankai Electric train from Namba Station to Hashimoto Staation. At Hashimoto, we had to transfer to another Nankai Electric train which took us to Gokurakubashi Station, then you exit the train and get on a cable car which takes you u the mountion to Koyasan Station. At Koyasan station, you get on buses which will take you into the town. It took about 2 hours to get there. Our first stop in Koyasan was Daimon Gate. Daimon Gate was the traditional entrance to Koyasan.
From Daimon Gate we walked to Danjo Garan Complex. This is Koyasan’s central temple complex. The two main buildings are the Kondo Hall and the Konpon Daito Pagoda, The current Kondo Hall was built in 1932, previous versions burned down. It enshrines an image of Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of medicine and healing. Next to it is the Konpon Daito Pagoda. It is 147 feet tall and is a two tiered tahoto style pagoda. A statue of Dainichi Nyorai stands in the middle surrounded by statues and paintings on pillars.
From there we walked a short ways until we found a place to eat lunch. after lunch we took the bus to the other end of Koyasan. from there we walked to Kobo Daishi’s masoleum. The pathway goes by over 200,000 gravestones where feudal lords are buried. It is almost a mile walk.
We were then ready to leave. we took the bus back to the Koyasan Station and took the cable car back down the mountain. Then we took the express train back to Namba, which only took a little over an hour. This was a fun excursion.
