It’s an early start for temple stay (宿坊). At our temple Daien-in (大圓院) the morning religious service (朝の勤行) begins at 5:50 am, lasting for about an hour. It is of course not mandatory and guests can join at any time.
For a casual visitor, one hour is probably overly long; and even with my current level of Japanese I could still barely catch what the monk said (the microphone he used being too quiet was a factor). Nevertheless, we should bear in mind that the service is not done as a “show” for visitors, there are other people (most of the Japanese it seems) attending for the worship. On the other hand, some other temples have services more geared towards foreign visitors, such as keeping it within a short 20 minutes or so as a taster, some ceremony lighting up a fire to provide photo opportunities… it really depends what kind of experience you are looking for.
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- All vegetarian Shojin-ryori (精進料理) style breakfast. Bottom two are rice and miso soup.
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- Dining area
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- Main corridor
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- View from our room. A little Japanese garden.
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- The story of the founder Kobo-daishi aka Kukai (空海), in a manga comic book. Entertaining read.
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- Slippers with the temple’s name.
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- Full view of dining area
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- Every place in Japan needs to have a mascot. This is Koya-kun (こうやくん).
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- Front gate of our temple Daien-in (大圓院)
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- Other temples nearby.
Okunoin (奥の院)
Having done the night walk yesterday, we went back again in a sunny morning. We took the opposite route this time, starting from the Ichinohashi entrance, then returning to Nakanohashi entrance.
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- Okunoin (奥の院) Ichinohashi (一の橋) entrance.
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- Whichever way you take, will eventually lead to the main temple. Note that photo is not allowed there!
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- Bright day, different ambience.
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- Grave of Nobunaga Oda (織田信長)
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- Some industrial company’s unique tombstone.
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- Nakanohashi approach (裏参道・中の橋)
There are quite a few other historical sites in Koyasan on the opposite side of town. But for us it’s time to move on to our next destination in Wakayama.
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- View from Koyasan cable car station (高野山駅)
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- Descending Mount Koya…