Wednesday, March 25, 2009

High Field Mountain - Kouyasan (高野山)

The final haruyasumi trip was to Kouyasan. Again, I had no idea about this place before going there. My friend found it in his guide book and it looked like an interesting place to go. To start off, Kouyasan was the furthest I have gone so far in Japan which is the Wakayama Prefecture. We had to take the Nankai line from Osaka to get there. As for train tickets go, Kouyasan was the most expensive I had ever bought in Japan.

(Japanese train tickets are cool because they have kanji and a magnectic strip on the back)

On the way to Kouyasan, I was getting a crash course about the place. Kouyasan is considered one of the sacred mountains of Japan because it has a lot of shrines, temples, and graves. It is also one of the United Nations World Heritage Sites. From Osaka it took about 2 hours to get to Wakayama. Our destination was located into the rural part of Japan and so one the way there we saw some beautiful countryside views. I was really impressed by the mountains. They were so beautiful. Included in our train ticket was a cable car up to the mountain.

(I took this to get to Kouyasan...there was nothing much to see on the way or down)

I read on Wiki that Kouyasan is acutally a bunch of hills but whatever. What surprised me the most was despite the name, Kouyasan is an actual town embedded in a mountain/hill. Getting around was very easy. They already developed a bus route to take tourists to all the famous places and for $8 you could have unlimited use of the bus system. I'm glad we got the pass. Normally, a single one way bus fare in Japan would start at $2.20. Little fees like that really add up.

(The bus pass for Kouyasan)

We really had no real destination we wanted to go to in Kouyasan. My friends and I decided to go to the furthest point and work our way back to the station. So the first place we went was called Kobo Daishi Mausoleum (弘法大師)(Kanji for mausoleam later.) In the guide it said that it was biggest graveyard on Kouyasan. We spent about three hours walking around there it was one of the most surreal yet beautiful places I have ever been. I felt like I was in a Hayao Miyazaki movie. There were so many statues and grave markers. I didn't know this at the time but we passed by the grave of Oda Nobunaga (織田信長) a famous war lord during the Sengoku period which was a crazy fun time in Japanese history (full of war.)

Also while we were there, we saw lots of families cleaning graves. I told my okaasan about this and she said it was ”春分” or shunbun. It is the official say of spring and within the week Japanese families go clean the graves of their ancestors or family members. They also give offerings to their deceased. I realized after the trip that walking towards Okunoin (the most sacred placed on Kouyasan) it was the newer to ancient graves.

One of the most memorable parts of the trip happened early on while we were in Kobo Daishi. Among the newer graves we passed by this one that had three red buttons on it and kanji we could not read. It was weird to see something like that on a grave and on Japan's most sacred mountain of all places. We were really curious what would happen. I honestly was expecting an alarm and half expecting a light show. My friend decided to press it. We were not expecting loud militaristic music to start playing.

Anyways, Kobo Daishi felt like an endless maze. There were many hidden paths and so many things to see. A lot of the older graves were covered in moss and interesting statues. The trees here were so tall. It really created such a mystic atmosphere. At Okunoin, the most sacred temple, you were not allowed to take photos in the area. We were able to enter the buliding and witness a buddhist service. Outside of the temple were these mountains of monk statues. I have no idea what it means (I wish I did) but it was so interesting.

(A pyramid of monk statues wearing red or colorful bibs)

The picture below was another highlight. My friends and I thought it was a grave for Panasonic's kashain (company employees.)

(So...only Panasonic CEOs can go to Nirvana?)

After Kobo Daishi, there was a lot of walking involved and eating. Our next major destination was Daimon gate which was the official enterance to Kouyasan. The gate is immense. I really liked the scary statues. If anyone has ever played Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne they will understand what I mean. By this time I was officially freezing but going there was well worth it.

(I'm trying to have a stare down and I manage to turn the poor thing into stone.)

Near by was the place you can apparently get your wishes granted but the view next to the shrine was more interesting for me.

(Amazing...)

While wondering away from Daimon gate we stumbled on shrine after shrine. The biggest and coolest one was Danjo Garan. In the pavillion there were also three really impressive bulidings. They are the next two photos down.


(All three buliding were in one courtyard)

The last major highlight of our trip was the big statue near the station. It was the first one we saw one our way to the mountain. I'm not sure what it or who it is.

(Kobo Daishi had a lot of status like this)
Across from the giant statue was Nyonindou mae. Back in the day, women were not allowed to set foot on Kouyasan. The were only allowed to this point and it is nowhere near the graves or temples. If they really, really wanted to go. They had to go through this long, roundabout, and hellish path to get there. I heard that they started to let women enter Kouyasan in the 1970's. So in late protest, my friend and I decided to show off our women power pride by standing next the gate taking a picture of us and the kanji Nyonindou.

(Tis bittersweet...)

We left the mountain quite early because it was getting ridiculously cold and we had a long commute in front of us. Looking back, I experienced many things that I could not express. I wish I knew about the significance of the places I was seeing before I got there. It is really a unbelievely beautiful place to visit. Peaceful and pure...the shopkeepers don't harass you to buy something nor do you see people panhandling on the streets. The view of the landscape was something I only saw in movies before I went to Kouyasan. The highlight of my time in Japan so far besides skiing.

Wow...what a break. I got no homework done and Japanese midterms coming up ;_;

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