I wanted somewhere special to spend my birthday and in Japan I found the perfect place. A few hours south of modern Osaka is Mount Koya, otherwise known as Koya-San. When I started my Japanese journey, I didn’t realise how spiritual it would be. Koya-san is one of the most sacred places in Japan, a small and secluded temple town that was first established in 826 when monk Kobo-Daishi brought Shingon Buddhism to Japan after learning in China. It is now the world headquarters. Kobo-Daishi is believed to be in external meditation on the mountain top. It seems fitting that I came here after visiting the place where The Buddha found enlightenment in India, and the various tooth and hair relics throughout Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

This is another train journey where you buy a helpful heritage pass that includes all of your travel. It’s very easy – a train from Osaka to Gokurakubashi station where a cable car was waiting to take passengers up to the top of the steep mountain. Once in Koyasan station, there are local buses and people ready to help direct you. I arrived early afternoon with just a small backpack containing overnight kit and it was freezing – good thing I’m still rocking the Michelen look.

Cable car

I hopped straight onto a bus and got off at the helpfully numbered stop for my Ryokan (temple dwelling). Searching for solitude and a place to reflect, I was going to spend the night in the Shojoshin-in temple, eat Japanese vegetarian food and rise at 6am to watch the morning meditation ceremony. Right up my street then 😂

A kindly monk checked me in and showed me my room, which I thought was perfect. With no real English on his part, it took a while for me to understand that it was perfectly acceptable to wear the provided robe for dinner but absolutely not OK for the morning ceremony. Good thing we cleared that up! He also showed me the communal bathtub, to be used before bed 🤔

My room, with a sliding door (no lock necessary here), had a Japanese style mat to sleep on, thankfully a heater and pile of thick blankets, a pot of hot water and some green tea and a little sweet, some handmade brochures of the area and a tiny table and mat which were perfect for journal writing which I hadn’t managed since early February 🙈

Dinner was served in the hall at 17.30, each party separated with a little bamboo divider. The Shojin Ryori meal included local specialities of tofu which I liked, although for the omnivores it’s not really the best introduction to tofu. Again, the fun was really in the trying the different dishes. Maybe the weirdest taste sensation I’ve ever experienced was (I think) a pickled cherry tomato. The intensity of flavour actually took my breathe away and I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. I’d love to know what each dish was. Anybody recognise this white sponge like thing with pink and blue stripes that was in the soup? 🤔

My room was next to the bathroom so I could have a sneaky peak to see if there were any shoes outside the ladies curtain or if the bathtub was empty. I plucked up the courage to go in just as another woman was coming out and I’ll admit it did cross my mind that I was about to get into a stranger’s dirty bath water… I did it anyway as I was freezing cold and it was lovely! I took a photo earlier in the day before it was open.

On my birthday morning I woke up at 6am and joined the morning ceremony where a tall monk chanted for almost an hour straight, using a prayer bowl and gong at what I presume were key moments.

After breakfast of rice, miso soup and another wild array of unknown items, I spent an incredible morning at the Okunoin site, hours before any of the day trippers arrived. I met one old Japanese man who insisted on taking a photo for me, just as a group of people arrived and my heart sank. Luckily they disappeared and I had the place to myself.

There is an otherworldly feel to this place and a palpable calmness in the air. The 2 kilometer path to the mausoleum is lined with over 200,000 tombstones, with trails leading off on either side to hidden clusters of crumbling monuments. Many are in ruins, which gives it a tomb raider feel. I passed only a handful of people at 8am. It reminded me a little of a miniature Ankor Wat in Cambodia with none of the people.

I crossed the bridge to reach the mausoleum, where no photos are allowed. Behind the Hall of Lanterns, where 10,000 lanterns are eternally lit, is the site of Kobo-Daishi’s eternal meditation. Underground are 50,000 tiny statues.

This was the most serene place of all, surrounded by thousand year old cedar trees, the only sound being the trickle of water from the stream behind. I have never seen trees so tall.

I could easily add a hundred photos, but here is a video which hopefully shows the tranquility:

On the way I passed the water well, where it’s said that if you don’t see your reflection you’ll die within 3 years. I waited for someone else to arrive and see their reflection before I peeked over the edge and was relieved to see my face looking back at me.

I spent a good few hours here, climbing up random stairways and taking a detour along the river into a forest, without seeing anybody else. I’m not sure what I would have done if I had looked into the well and not seen my reflection when I was all alone.

I could have stayed all day but I was hungry and there is a lovely rustic vegetarian cafe that serves a set meal with coffee and cake included, called Bon-on-sha, on the way back into town which was perfect. Before heading back, I went to the edge of town to see the Daimon gate, marking the traditional entrance to Koyasan with its huge guardian statues.

Even though it was early afternoon by now there were still hardly any other visitors – most people stick to the largest temple of Kongobuji which contains the biggest rock garden in Japan.

A pine tree stands in the central Garan temple grounds, said to have 3 pronged pines. Legend has it that Kobo-Daishi threw his three pronged sankosho from China and discovered it in the branches of this very tree, which determined the site of Koyasan. I spent a while looking for a 3 forked pine but I didn’t see any.

When I got back to the cable car boarding area there was chaos (by Japan standards). A female staff member was shouting instructions in a high pitched voice and handing everyone a number. I had no idea what was going on so just stood there with my number until somebody explained that a tree had come down on the train tracks so we were waiting for a bus to drive up the mountain and rescue us. Ever so often an official would shout numbers in Japanese and people would follow him while the tourists in the room just held up their numbers hopefully. Fortunately a lovely old Japanese man on a pilgrimage (Koyasan is the start and end point) took me under his wing as we had the same numbers. Eventually we got on a bus that dropped us at a different train station and he gave me some sweets for the ride. This man was very concerned that I get back to Osaka safely and spent the entire train ride looking at his map through a magnifying glass, although I tried to tell him I’d figure it out and not to worry.

When I eventually made it back to my hostel a few hours later, the boy at reception said ‘ah yes your friend called us!’. I was very confused as I’m travelling alone until I realised that the old man had in fact called my hostel to confirm their location 🙂

I was too exhausted to do anything that night but relax and enjoy the nightly tea ceremony where the lovely front desk boy donned a robe and prepared the frothy mix in the traditional way. I couldn’t even pretend to like it this time 🤢 Luckily another girl shared her bottle of wine with me instead, a much more enjoyable end to the perfect day 🙏

With an extra week added to my trip, I had a couple more days in Osaka to explore the area – next blog coming soon.