Okunoin Cemetery, Mount Kōya

Okunoin is the innermost sanctuary of Mount Kōya, the mountain monastery founded by the monk Kūkai, known posthumously as Kōbō Daishi. According to Shingon belief, Kūkai did not die in 835 but entered eternal meditation in his mausoleum here, where he awaits the coming of Maitreya, the Buddha of the future. Because of that belief, generations of Japanese of every rank have wanted their remains or a memorial placed near him, and the result is the largest cemetery in Japan, with more than two hundred thousand graves and monuments.

The approach begins at the Ichinohashi, the first bridge, where tradition says the Daishi greets pilgrims, and runs for roughly two kilometres through a forest of towering cedars and cypresses, some of them centuries old. On both sides stand moss-covered stone pagodas and stupas, Jizō statues in red bibs, and lichen-streaked lanterns. The light under the trees is dim and green even at midday, and in rain or mist the procession of stones seems to go on without end. In the newer section near the parking area, twentieth-century companies have raised memorials of their own, among them the tomb erected in 1938 by Kōnosuke Matsushita, founder of Panasonic, and one shaped like a rocket, a strangely touching modern continuation of the old custom.

At the far end, past the bronze Mizumuke Jizō statues that visitors douse with water for their ancestors, the Gobyōbashi bridge marks the entrance to the innermost precinct, and the atmosphere grows more solemn. The Tōrōdō, the Hall of Lanterns, is lit by more than ten thousand lamps offered by the faithful, two of which are said to have been burning for over nine hundred years. Behind it lies the Gobyō, Kūkai's mausoleum, which is not open to the public; monks still bring ritual offerings and meals to it twice a day. Photography is not permitted beyond the bridge. Mount Kōya is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range, and walking Okunoin at dusk, when the lanterns glow among the gravestones, is one of the most affecting experiences in Japan.

Getting there

Okunoin lies at the eastern end of Kōyasan, a temple town on a mountain plateau in Wakayama Prefecture, about 11 km from Hashimoto. From Osaka's Namba Station, the Nankai Kōya Line runs to Gokurakubashi, where a short cable car climbs to Kōyasan Station; buses continue through town to the Ichinohashi-guchi stop, for the full walk from the first bridge, or to Okunoin-mae, for the shorter route. The nearest international airport is Kansai International (KIX), about 40 km away as the crow flies.