 |
| Some other pretty temple; not ours, ours was down a dark alley |
Koyasan is 2-3 hours outside of Osaka, by train, cable car and bus. It was originally a large Buddhist area, and still is. There are two options for accommodation, a youth hostel or a stay in one of the many temples. I booked our temple stay through this website that I found on the Japan guide site. It warns you that a temple stay, although similar to a Ryokan, is not as service orientated. Other than the communal bathroom, I think they are pretty similar.
We started our day slowly on Saturday,
with not much planned and a late check out. When had to change trains
3 times to get to our goal of Namba station. The first item of
business was to find a locker to store our big luggage for the night,
because we were only going to take small backpacks. This turns out to
be harder than you would think, because although there are ample
lockers there are also ample travellers to fill those lockers.
Luckily we found the last free large locker in the train station and
caught the subway one station to look for a knife to buy. After
walking around for quite some time and not finding the shopping area
the knife stores were meant to be in, we discovered it was actually
back near Namba. So back we went. We found ourselves two knives, some
dipping bowls and cheap hot pot for lunch. I love hot pot. So much
vegetable... mmmm...
Heading over to the Nankai Namba train
station, we bought ourselves Koyasan World Heritage tickets. The
ticket gives you travel to and from Koyasan, including the cable car,
and use of the buses in Koyasan over a 2 day period, at a slightly
reduced rate. We chose the super express option and both fell asleep
almost as soon as the train left the station.
Our booking said we needed to be at our
temple before 5:30pm or risk not getting our dinner, and there's not
really any restaurants on Koyasan. We made it in plenty of time and
found our temple hidden down a side alley with no real signs. We
stayed at Hoonen, but the options are seriously endless, I didn't
even bother comparing reviews on tripadvisor.
Our dinner was very like our dinner at
the Ryokan, only smaller and with less disgusting stuff. The only
thing I couldn't finish was the large block of cold tofu, and Brandon
couldn't handle the soaked bread. Buddhist monks are vegetarian and
don't eat onion or garlic. I can't remember why, but it meant there
were no nasty fishy surprises. There were 8 other people staying too
and we all ate quietly in a communal dining room, sitting
uncomfortably on the floor. Dinner time was 6pm, so to use up some
time before bed we went for a walk to The Daimon. The Daimon is the
original entrance gate to Koyasan, when people would walk to the
mountain temples. From there we could see the last tinges of colour
on the horizon.
 |
| The Daimon |
Getting back to the temple, it was time to tackle the
communal shower situation. Luckily for Brandon, the men's shower was
empty. I was not so lucky. I thought brushing my teeth might give the
other lady enough time to finish up, but no. I had just decided I
would have to shower next to a naked stranger when she turned off the
water. There was nothing to it then, I was naked in the change room
and she was naked in the shower. There was going to be an awkward
change over at some stage. And there was. And then she fled so
quickly she forget her undies. Turns out I wasn't the most afraid to
get naked in front of a complete stranger.
We settled down for bed on our hard
futon beds and husk filled pillows, in front of some kind of electric
fan heater with a naked flame inside. Just a little dangerous in an
old wooden and paper building.
 |
| So excited to try out the husk pillow! Never mind the holey sheets |
The morning started with 6:30am prays
by two monks. As guest at the temple, you are expected to attend. To
start with I found it interesting, watching the monks, listening to
their chanting and looking at all the golden decorations. Then I
started getting hungry and a bit bored. The frequent snorting as they took a breath in through there noses was a bit distracting too. Breakfast was served as soon
as the prays were over, but it was not terribly exciting. Again we
had a small bowl of rice with nori; I assume to wrap into some kind
of sushi. There was also a large piece of bread soaking in something,
some vegetable stock soup, and some horrible mush stuff that neither
of us could eat. Breakfast was quite light on, and I would recommend
bringing snacks to eat on your way back to Osaka if you plan to leave
early. I was hanging out for lunch by the time we got to Osaka.
 |
| Pretty bridge |
After breakfast we quickly packed our things away and headed out into the rain. Stopping to buy ponchos to
cover our backpacks so we didn't have to walk around looking like
hunchbacks with our bags under our jackets, we caught a bus a short
distance down the road. We got off the bus at Okunoin-mae and began
our walk into the very large graveyard that is one of the attractions
of Koyasan. The end of our walk took us to Torodo, the lantern
temple. There are two lanterns in it that have apparently burned for a thousand
years, along with heaps of other lanterns. Below the temple itself, in a basement type room, there are many lanterns and thousands of tiny Buddha statues. I think there
would have to be more lanterns than the temple at Nara. Although you
aren't allowed to take photos here.
 |
| Rocking the poncho |
 |
| Huge trees! |
We took a different route back to the
main road, passing by innumerable tombstones and mini shrines. Of all
the places we have been, this was the most serene. There were not
many people wandering around, and you could hear small birds among
the very large trees. It had a nice quite atmosphere to it compared
to everywhere else.
We caught a bus back to the cable car
and found a super express waiting at the train station. Of course we
paid for the upgrade again rather than waiting half an hour for the slow train.
 |
| Brandon looking quite pained |
Koysan was quite a good side trip to take. Although it wasn't as small and quiet as I was expecting, it was a good escape from the cities you spend most of your time in. You're up for about $125 per person for the temple stay. I'm not really sure why the reasonably high price tag. Our Ryokan stay cost about the same, but there was a lot more food served to us and we had a private bathroom, so it seemed a reasonable price. In my opinion the temple price was a bit steep. I'm sure there are cheaper ones available, I just didn't have time to look. If you wanted to make the most out of your stay at Koyasan I would recommend getting there for midday and leaving after lunch the next day. That way you would be able to see all of the temples on the mountain and really get good use out of the Koyasan Heritage pass. Unless you have a major desire to be part of a prayer session, I think your money is better spent staying in a good ryokan somewhere else rather than a temple ryokan.
No comments:
Post a Comment