Perched high up in the mountains about an hour away from
Osaka is a small town called Kōya-san, which is home to a large Busshist temple
complex founded in the 9th century.
The road to Kōya-san is steep and winding, but the scenery
is absolutely amazing.
We arrived and found a parking space next to a cemetery, so
we went in to have a look. Every plot belongs to one family and a memorial is
added for each new family member that dies. The wooden blocks in the background
represent people whose memorials have had to be removed to make space for new
arrivals.
Nearby we found this thing. I’m not sure whether it was a
grave or not.
It’s customary to throw water onto these statues apparently…
…I don’t think I’d mess with this guy though, so I didn’t
bother.
Around the corner was possibly the coolest memorial I’ve
ever seen. Some Japanese guy obviously thought “screw tradition, I want a space
rocket as a grave.”
Near to the graveyard was the temple complex itself.
This huge wooden temple is the main attraction in Kōya-san…
…I felt I had to violate the “no photographs” rule to get a
snap of this.
We finished off the day with a nice lunch in a local
restaurant - tempura shrimp with rice and seaweed, pickled cabbage and miso
soup.
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