Staying in one of the most spiritual places in Japan was a must, so a trip to koyasan was definitely on the agenda. The train ride up the mountain was so beautiful, as it weaves its way up the mountain to reach the funicular cable car to get us to the top of the mountain. Here we sat and ascended the steep final part of our journey to the top of the mountain. Here pilgrims come from all over Japan to visit the sacred monasteries and the thousand year old cemetery and we were staying the night at one of the most sacred monasteries, where at dawn they performed fire meditation. We had a ryokan style room with futon beds and a table to sit up at and have Japanese tea - and the champagne sake that we had sneaked up from Kyoto! Really shouldn't have worried about alcohol, as when the monk came in to tell us what time dinner was he also asked if we wanted beer and sake, so we ordered both!!!!
The cemetery was amazing with over 200,000 plots filled over the last 1,000 years. There were so many statues that were now dressed, honouring the spirits of deceased children, and major companies also had their own plots throughout the cemetery. We were lucky enough to see a group of priests pray around the area, which really added to the spiritual experience.
The prayers at dawn in the monastery were incredible, spell binding and calming. Around a dozen monks gathered in the inner temple, with just candle light and lanterns to light the temple. Their chanting and voices were amazing and we were able to join in the ceremony by offering tea and incense. Just amazing. Then we had coffee with two of the monks, to learn more about their stand of Buddhism from china and about the temple itself. A truly amazing experience.
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