16. Mount Koya (4 of 4)
The highlight of the trip to Koyasan was seeing the resting places of Japan's most prominent historical figures.
The Tokugawa Family Mausoleum (徳川家霊台) was built to memorialise Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川 家康) and his son. Ieyasu, of course, was the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate (徳川幕府) which ruled from 1600 until the Meiji Restoration (明治維新) in 1868. Oh, and he was Takeda Shingen's enemy in Kagemusha.
The shrines were built in 1643 by Ieyasu's grandson. They are lavishly coloured and ornately decorated. Entrance to the mausoleum is strictly prohibited, so the photos (shown above) are not ideal. The photos on the left and the right were taken through the front gates.
Okunoin (奥の院) is the largest cemetery in Japan. It is home to more than 200 000 gravestones, which belong to people from all walks of life. Okunoin is the resting place of several military commanders, perhaps the most prominent being Takeda Shingen and Oda Nobunaga (織田 信長) -- who was also in Kagemusha. The area is populated by cedar trees which are hundreds of years old. You can see photos of Okunoin below.
The main structure in Okunoin is the Tōrōdō (灯篭堂) or 'lantern hall.' The lantern in this temple has burned uninterrupted for a thousand years. Behind the lantern hall is the Kōbō Daishi Gobyō (弘法大師御廟) -- where Kukai has been sitting in eternal meditation since 835. This 'resting place' (Kukai is not dead, he is merely resting) is furnished in gold and is truly a sight to behold. It's a pity that photographs are prohibited there. Monks cooks meals for Kukai twice a day, and people come from all over in order to pray to him. When I visited, I burned incense and said a brief prayer offering my reverence and respect.
