Mount Kōya (Kōyasan)

Background

In 816 Kūkai, back from studying in Tang China, founded a Shingon training centre here, and for 1,200 years the incense has never stopped burning; the whole of Kōyasan is regarded as the precinct of Kongōbu-ji, the head temple. The vermilion Konpon Daitō pagoda of the Danjō Garan towers up, and along the Okunoin approach more than 200,000 gravestones and stone pagodas rest among thousand-year-old cedars, where famous Sengoku warlords such as Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi also lie. In 2004 Kōyasan was inscribed as a World Heritage Site as part of the 'Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range', and its 52 temple lodgings (shukubō) still carry on the monks' daily practice.

Local customs

• The day on Kōyasan begins with the early-morning 'gongyō' service — shukubō guests can join the monks' morning prayers and greet the dawn to the sound of wooden drums and chanting
• sutra copying and Ajikan meditation are a unique form of practice-based sightseeing here. Shōjin ryōri (Buddhist vegetarian cuisine) values 'leaving nothing', so put your palms together and say 'itadakimasu' before eating. Every morning and late morning at Okunoin there is the 'shōjingu' ritual: Kūkai is said to remain in eternal meditation in his mausoleum, and monks offer him food every day
• worshippers may stand by and watch quietly and respectfully.

Religion & beliefs

• This is the head temple of the Shingon school, whose faith centres on the esoteric idea of 'attaining Buddhahood in this very body' and reverence for Kōbō Daishi. Before worship, rinse your hands and mouth at the purification fountain
• remove your shoes to enter halls, and don't use flash inside. Beyond the Gobyō Bridge at Okunoin is the holiest area of the mountain, where photography, eating, drinking and noise are strictly banned — tread softly and silence your phone. The gravestones and stone pagodas are all memorial offerings: don't touch or climb them, let alone sit or lie on them
• keep silent on the approach and let the dead rest in peace.

Travel tips

• Spring and autumn are best — cherry blossom in spring, and autumn leaves covering the mountain from late October to early November
• winter snow scenes are serene, but it's bitterly cold and bus services are reduced. Access: from Osaka Namba take the Nankai Kōya Line to Gokurakubashi, change to the cable car up to Kōyasan Station, then take a Nankai bus about 10 minutes to the centre — about 2 hours in all. Costs: most temples on the mountain are free
• Kongōbu-ji costs JPY 1,000 for junior-high age and above. Be sure to book shukubō in advance — months ahead in the autumn-leaves season and on long weekends — and check in before early evening so you don't miss dinner.

Maps & transport notes

• '高野山 金剛峯寺' (Kōyasan Kongōbu-ji
• for Okunoin search '高野山 奥之院'
• use Kongōbu-ji as your reference point for navigation, then take buses to the various halls and pagodas).