Koya-San

After Kyoto, we took the Shinkansen back to Shin-Osaka station and then transferred onto a regular train for the long journey to Koya-San.  It was slow going in comparison to the bullet train, but it allowed us to see the beautiful country-side as we ascended into the green mountains of Wakayama-ken.

The train terminated at the base of the mountain, where we then took the funicular railway to the top.  It was like riding in a cable-car, except on train tracks.  It was so incredibly steep too, I was freaking out that the train wouldn't make it to the top.  In hindsight though, I guess the journey there was half the fun (although, you never think of these things when you're convinced that your train will derail and hurtle to the bottom of the mountain and burst into flames...)

Once we arrived in Koya-San at the top of the mountain, we made our way to our lodgings for the evening.  We stayed in one of the many buddhist temples in the middle of town.  We had a large room with a separate sitting area and bathroom, and a view of the little manicured gardens that adorned the temple.  What bliss - everything was green, peaceful and quiet.  We were served a traditional shojin-ryori meal in our room for dinner.  Consisting of miso, tofu, mountain vegetables, rice and seaweed, it was a veritable banquet - for vegetarians.  I enjoyed it, but Steve was left a little hungry afterwards as vegetables are a rare feature of his diet...

The next morning we breakfasted in the communal dinning hall at the temple.  It was odd, sitting quietly with twenty other strangers, eating seaweed and rice for brekky.  Afterwards, we walked to Oku-no-in, a buddhist cemetery nestled in the mountain top.

The atmosphere was serene.  A layer of moss covered all the tombstones, and delicate wildflowers adorned the cobbled path leading the cemetery's main temple.  We spent a few hours wandering through the grounds, visiting monuments along the way.  It might sound strange, visiting a cemetery on one's holiday, but Oku-no-in is beautiful and otherworldly, not at all sad or scary.  At times it did seem a little spooky, when the mist would hang low over the trees and the sunlight would disappear behind thick clouds.  But I was left with on overall feeling of peace and tranquility.  An ideal resting place...