Friday 21st April, 2017

Nara to Koyasan (131 kms)

Dressed warmly as we climb into the mountains today.

First Regularity was 13 kms from the hotel and only a distance of 3 kms and pretty straight forward with little navigation, climbing into the forest and down again. Lots more pollarded pine trees. We surmised that it is necessary to pollard them to keep the branches from the narrow winding roads.

The second Regularity was far more complicated, about 11kms twice around a reservoir, the second round in reverse direction. Navigation was hectic with hair pin bends, right and left turns over narrow bridges and cross roads.

The third Regularity I think we were 15 seconds late. The last turn was difficult to see, the tulip was 10 mts out so we had to reverse. 

Regularity four was cancelled due to too much local traffic.

We drove 60kms to the lunch stop at Koyasan.

Koyasan is a centre for Buddhist study, about 900mts above sea level and the resting place of Kobo Daishi, Shingon Buddhism's founder. It is in a valley surrounded by eight low peaks, said to represent the eight petals of a lotus flower. Koyasan was founded eight centuries ago, the pre-requisite being that it be far from worldly distractions where Buddhist monks could pray for peace and the welfare of the people. It was granted UNESCO World Heritage in 2004.

With so many people on the rally, we have been billeted across five temples tonight. Traditional rooms, tatami mats, shoes off, futons on the floor and communal bathroom. Austere but comfortable. Meals are vegan and supposedly no alcohol. But surprise, alcohol was available. It will be an early night as the monks' prayer service is at 6.30am tomorrow morning and we have been invited to attend.

After checking in we walked around Koyasan which is quite small.

Okunoin cemetery is one of the most sacred places in Japan and Kobo Daishi's mausoleum is here. It is also the largest cemetery in Japan. It is a serene and sacred place covering two kms. The cedar trees are 200-600 years old and all the tombstones have moss growing on them. There is even a pest control company's memorial to the termites that have been killed in their work. Another had a very large teacup as its memorial, probably some high ranking official in a tea company.

We also visited Kongobu-ji a very large bright orange temple.