I went on a trip!
Originally published at megatiny.com. You can comment here or there.
Last weekend I went to Osaka, Kyoto, and a mountaintop temple town called Koya-san.
Koya-san was a town built around the temple built by the founder of the Japanese Shingon Buddhism sect, Kukai. Shingon Buddhism was one of the first sects of Buddhism that wasn’t taken wholesale from China, and it became popular throughout Japan. It is popular for people to have their mausoleums built nearby so that whenever the Buddha returns to earth they will reawaken along with Kukai. Even companies (I remember seeing Panasonic) have memorials there, although I’m not exactly sure how that works.
At some point there were over 1000 temples in the area, each associated with a certain region of Japan. When you went there on a pilgrimage, you went and had a chat with the guy at the main gate, and he sent you along to stay at the right temple based on where you came from. Now there are only a hundred or so temples left, but they still are the only place to stay on the mountain. They do web reservations now, however. I didn’t stay the night, only having learned about the place a few days before I left for Osaka.
Being as it is on the top of a mountain, it was chilly, about 10 degrees (Celsius) colder than down in Osaka. Luckily I had read up on Koya-san far enough ahead of time to know to dress a little more warmly. I rented one of the offered audio guides, and had a nice leisurely walk around the town. I also had a vegetarian lunch with one of the local specialties, sesame tofu. It’s a tofu variety made with sesame which has a different texture, more like a mix between a marshmallow and Jell-o. I had a hot-pot meal which was perfect for the chilly weather. Some of the leaves were even starting to turn! It was a nice quiet place and worth the trip.