Mount Kōya

Mount Kōya is not a single peak but a high basin in the mountains of Wakayama Prefecture, a plain at about 800 metres ringed by eight summits. In the early ninth century the monk Kūkai, known after his death as Kōbō Daishi, chose this remote upland as the centre for the esoteric Shingon school he had brought back from China, and Kōyasan grew into a temple town that is still wholly given over to religion. Around 120 sub-temples crowd its streets, many of them taking in overnight guests, and in 2004 the mountain was inscribed as part of the World Heritage site of sacred places and pilgrimage routes in the Kii Mountains.

Two poles organise the town. At one end stands the Danjo Garan, the original ritual complex, dominated by the Konpon Daitō, a great pagoda about 48.5 metres high that stands for the centre of the mandala. Nearby is Kongōbu-ji, the head temple of Kōyasan Shingon Buddhism, and the great Daimon, the main gate of the mountain, is flanked by guardian figures. At the other end lies Okunoin, the resting place of Kūkai, who according to Shingon belief did not die but remains in eternal meditation awaiting the future Buddha.

Okunoin is the most haunting walk on the mountain. From the Ichinohashi bridge a path of about two kilometres runs through ancient cryptomeria forest lined with more than 200,000 graves and memorials — the largest cemetery in Japan — from moss-covered old stone stupas to much newer memorials. It ends at the Tōrōdō, the Hall of Lanterns, whose thousands of lamps, given by the faithful, burn before the mausoleum. Walk it at dusk or early morning, when mist hangs between the trees. For those who want to arrive as pilgrims did, the old Chōishi-michi climbs the mountain from below, marked by stone posts at intervals of 109 metres.

Getting there

From Namba Station in Osaka, Nankai trains run to Gokurakubashi at the foot of the mountain, where the Nankai cable car climbs to Kōyasan station in about five minutes; the journey takes roughly one and a half to two hours in all, with buses on to the temple town. The nearest airport is Kansai International Airport (KIX), about 39 km away in a straight line. Many visitors stay overnight in a temple lodging (shukubō) to see the morning service.