Monday, June 10, 2013

Koyasan, the sanctuary of Shingon Buddhism (1)

The last weekend, I visited Koyasan in Wakayama Prefecture.

Koyasan is a sanctuary of Shingon Buddhism. Kukai, or Henjo-Kongo, was the founder of Shingon Buddhism. He visited China to study Buddhism in 804. Then he returned to Japan and entered Koyasan and established Kongobu-ji in 816.

Koyasan station is distant from Osaka in 3 hours by the train.


A cable car line is available to reach Koyasan station. The scape was beautiful and a little fearful.


It was a little cold due to the height although it was summer.
I stayed at Ichijo-in, a temple-inn in Koyasan. This kind of facility offers visitors a room and meals as an inn. In addition, visitors can participate in ascetic practices such as meditation. I attended to a morning recitation.

JAPANiCAN.com: Ichijo-in


Ichijo-in was a very cool temple. Some of the rooms equipped sophisticated Fusuma paintings.


The long corridors were enclosing a garden. 


The garden was also splendid. A monk explained me that the pond and stones resembled a turtle and a crane respectively. However, I could not look the stones like a crane. Can you see it?


The main chapel of Ichijo-in was quite sublime. Perhaps photography was prohibited there. Even if allowed, I would not be willing to take a photo. I recommend you to watch it with your own eyes.

Website of Ichijo-in (in Japanese)

(To be continued)

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