Adventures with Tye!: Day 8. Koyasan and road trip to Tokushima.

5/6/2017

The next morning we woke up bright and early so we could gain a good deal of distance in our trip. I said goodbye to Courtney, I knew it would be a long time before I saw her again.

Our first stop was to the Koyasan Temple Complex and Cemetery in Wakamatsu. It took us over three hours to drive to Koyasan. Our route took us through Mie down to Wakayama, into Nara, and then back into Wakayama. The gps told us it would take less time, but it was paying attention to the crazy Japanese drivers that take those windy mountain roads like they were racing for F1.

When we finally did reach Koyasan we were on the side of town that had the large cemetery, so we started our day there.

This is the Koyasan Okunoin Cemetery. It is the biggest cemetery in all of Japan and many important, famous and rich people are buried here. Many of the graves have large monuments and statues erected on their plots.

There were sections of the cemetery that were modern and shiny and new. They looked amazing! This one had a mobius-strip statue on the top.

This one had a strange chocolate-kiss shaped dome and door. It had an altar and a Kannon-sama statue on top.

Some sections of the cemetery were super old! The stones were crumbling or fallen over. They were covered in moss and had chunks missing from them.

This one had most of its wall falling over as well as parts that had already crumbled within.
This one was a small, baby memorial pyramid.

This was the mausoleum for a famous Daimyo named Matsudaira Hideyasu and his mother Lady Kogo. I heard a guide talking in the distance to her tour group about why he is interred here, and it is something about being more dedicated to Buddhism than to war. I have looked online and been unable to confirm this story so far, but perhaps one day I can update this. His mother is burried with him because he loved her dearly.

We saw a bunch of Buddhist monks walking quickly through the cemetery towards the temple.

This cemetery also has a large Buddhist temple at the back of the main area. It is famous for being the resting place of the famous Buddhist monk Kobo Daishi, the creator of the Shingon or “True World” sect of Buddhism. His mausoleum is back in the hills behind the main temple. It is a very beautiful spot.

There are many buildings at the back; there are a few shrines and places where the priests were talking to people. There were a few places to buy omamori. There was a place where there was a row of Buddha and Kannon statues in all shapes, sizes and styles in front of a long fountain. People went up to the statues, grabbed cups that were on the end of a long stick, and splashed water on the statues using the cup. I am not sure what the significance is. It was pretty great, though. Really interesting.
We went to the back where the main temple and mausoleum are. The temple was quite large and pretty on the inside

There was this big stone and hammer hanging from a frame. I gleaned that this was meant to grant wishes if you hit the stone with a hammer and got it to ring like a gong or bell. It did make a pretty ringing sound when I hit it, although I wouldn't have likened it to a bell.

We went around back to see the mausoleum, but it is behind a steep staircase which is behind a gate which is behind an altar. So, while you cannot get close, it is still a pretty place. While we were there the Buddhist monks we saw earlier were chanting in their sing-song way. I turned on my camera and recorded their beautiful sounds.

From here we walked to a neighboring building that was a two story building that was just full of lanterns. It is free to go in, but I was content to stand at the entrance and peek in. Tye took some film of the building entrance.

From here we had to walk back out through the cemetery to the car. We passed two huge and strangely beautiful and creepy, baby-monument pyramids! I had never seen pyramids quite like these ones. The individual memorials were so small, and many were shaped like Buddhas, and there was an alcove in the side of the pyramid that held some Buddha statues and an altar. (If you would like to know more about why baby monuments are pyramid shaped, check out my blog post about the cemetery in Aomori in December 2016/January 2017.)

This is what you seen in the opening of the pyramid-mouth.

There was also a Shinto Shrine on the grounds of the cemetery, and I stopped and took a look at it on the way back to the car. Although there wasn't much noteworthy about it.

We got back to the car and drove about ten minutes to the other side of town where we found parking and we could take a look at all the amazing temples!

Across the street from our parking there was a house or something with a small room attached that had been decorated in red Buddhas and some other decorations. I do believe that these red Buddhas were Jizo-sama statues, which were a bit different from how he is normally portrayed. There were snacks and small toys all around which makes me think that the small altar was for praying for children in one way or another. I was tempted to buy a little red cloth Buddha.

There was also a pretty and tall statue in the courtyard of the house between the temple room and the house. It was really neat!

From here we walked across the street to a fairly large temple with some nice dragon carvings on the eaves of the roof. They were charging to get in, and it didn’t really look worth it, so we walked on.
We walked down the main road a short distance and ran into a large circular pagoda/temple building. I was confused for a short while, I was mistaking this pagoda for the famous pagoda in the area. They look a little similar, but they are different. The famous one was behind us near where we parked the car; we would head back that way later.

When we walked into this temple I noticed that a lot of the iconography looked Indian and not Japanese. This only further confused me. I kept walking and I soon realized that this Buddhist temple was built by Burmese Buddhists. Therefore all the decorations were of an Southeast Asian origin.  It was really pretty. I hadn’t expected to see this here. It was a nice surprise. It looked so different!
There was a large golden statue at the entrance, and a Buddhist altar and statue in the center of the building. There were Buddhist displays around the exterior, so you could walk around the circular, center display/altar.

When you got to the back of the building there was a stairwell leading into a dark hole in the ground. It had a railing splitting the staircase with one side being the entrance and one side being the exit. It was super scary and I didn’t want to go inside. Tye wanted to though, and he walked in one end and came out the other.

It was so dark! I didn’t like it one bit! I didn’t want to go in. Tye pleaded with me, saying that it wasn’t that bad, that there were only a couple of statues and alcoves with pictures in them. There was a little light and it would all be fine. I still didn’t want to go, but I eventually relented.

Tye started pulling me in by the arm and I was having none of that! I started freaking out and he finally let me hold onto his arm and make my way through the dark passageway at my own pace. I couldn’t see the statue just inside the entrance, and I figured that if I stood in the dark and tried to see it I would probably start crying, so I moved past it quickly. The first alcove had a small statue which was ok. The alcoves were illuminated, but they were set far back enough into the wall that the passageway was still very, very dark. The second alcove had a larger statue with scary eyes and red skin. It freaked me out and I said to Tye “I don’t like this. I don’t like it here. I want to leave now!” I started feeling panic rising in my chest. I didn’t like this place at all. I just wanted to turn back and run out the way I came, but Tye had a firm grip on me and was not going to let me run anywhere.
The third alcove was illuminated with a black light and it had a velvet poster of the Buddha sitting on a lotus flower. The lines on the picture were colorful and pretty. I actually liked that display quite a bit, but it didn’t change the fact that I was standing in a dark passageway with creepy statues surrounding me. We turned the last corner and there was a tall Buddha statue standing directly ahead of me in the dark! I screamed and started to bolt! Tye grabbed my arm until we made it past the last bend in the passage and then released me so I could run up the stairs and out of the dark passageway.
I was safe in the light of day now but I was still feeling super scared. I felt like I had been forced to do something that I legitimately didn’t want to do. Adrenaline was coursing through my veins and I started to tear up a bit. We left the temple after that and stared walking down the street. I still felt like I was going to cry.

Not the face of someone who is going to burst into tears. I feel like this picture does not accurately show what was going on on the inside.

I always kind of knew that spelunking was not really a sport for me, but in this moment I knew that I would never be the type of person who enjoyed going into dark enclosed places. I will most likely never take up spelunking.

After that we walked a ways down the road to see an Inari shrine I saw going up into the hills. We had passed it earlier in my car and it looked so cool I had to go back and find it. When we arrived, though, it wasn’t as impressive. It looked pretty old and forgotten about, but I still wanted to go see it so I followed the trail a short distance ‘till we got to this plain-looking shrine back amongst the trees.

After that we walked back into town to get something to eat and check out the main temple complex.
We walked to the other side of the town near where I had parked my car. It was here that it had started to rain. I had brought my umbrella with us just in case, which was a great idea because within a couple of minutes the light drizzle turned into a downpour. It was so amazing! We walked onto the main temple complex and walked to the main pagoda. All the buildings and taller trees were surrounded by fog, but around us it was still clear. The fog only started about 30-40 feet above our heads.

This pagoda was built in 876, it stands 48 meter tall and took 40 years to build. It is built in an early 2 story pagoda style, its bottom tier is square while its upper tier is circular. It is an early style of pagoda in Japan. The building has burned down many times, but its current structure was built in 1937.

There was an entrance fee of 300 yen. You are not allowed to take photographs inside the temple. It is quite a shame because I thought it was one of the most beautiful temple interiors I had seen in Japan. There are five golden Buddhas inside the first tier in the center. There is empty space all around the sides and you can walk around and see these Buddhas from all angles. There are also painted murals on the walls and pillars Tye thought ahead before we even got inside the temple and he started recording video on his camera, so we were able to get footage of the inside without taking any photographs. #MaliciousCompliance. So here are some pictures of the interior I found on Google Images.

Lightning struck the pagoda in 1149 and a man named Kiyomori was in charge of its reconstruction. There is a beautiful cherry tree nearby on the other side of the main temple. This cherry tree marks the spot where it is said that Kobo Daishi appeared to Kiyomori and praised him for his efforts in restoring the pagoda. This cherry tree is now known as the “face-to-face” cherry tree.

There was also a small temple that you couldn’t enter, but only had a small donation box. But what this little temple did have was a circular wooden wheel encircling the base of the temple. This wheel had spokes sticking out of it a short distance, where you could grab it and walk around the temple spinning the wooden wheel with you as you walked. I don’t know the purpose of the wooden wheel or what the outcome of spinning it is supposed to be, but I will update if I ever find out. (Basic Google search has yielded no results, so deeper research is needed.) In the meantime enjoy this video of me spinning the wooden wheel around the temple.

There was also a pretty little pond off to the side that had a little Shinto shrine on it. There were two small shrines, a donation box and a place for incense or candle burning.

There were two pretty, red bridges on each side of the little island in the center reaching the banks on either side, so you could reach the island from either side of the pond.

Next to these shrines I saw these pretty flowers. They have some story with a mysterious woman, but I couldn't find anything about it on the internet.

Here some of the other beautiful buildings around the temple grounds.

Off to one side of the temple grounds there was a temple where it looked like you hung up all the ema and other good luck charms.

There was also a pretty gate surrounding a couple of pine trees that were important and meaningful to Kobo Daishi.

After this we realized we still had quite a ways to go until we would reach our destination in Tokushima, so we got in the car and started driving through the windy mountain roads towards the coast.

While leaving the area we drove right past a big red gate on the far end of the temple complex. This is the famous Daimon Gate. I was sad that I wasn’t going to see it up close when we left, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it from my car as we drove away. Because I was driving and it was a surprise that we saw it, we didn't get any pictures. But I found some on Google Images. It looked just like a combination of these pictures because of the fog and the rain.

As we drove out of the mountain passes we hit the coast and the outer reaches of the city of Wakamatsu. From here we started driving north around Osaka bay through a town called Iizumi. I had never heard of Izumi before, but it was quite a large city and I was surprised that I hadn’t heard of it.

I loved looking out over the city as we drove past on the expressway. Izumi bled into Sakai which bled into Osaka city. The cities were so big that they bled into each other with no obvious boundary. It was pretty cool! And soon after that we drove through Kobe.

The expressway around Osaka bay was absolutely crazy expensive. This would be the area around Sakai, Osaka and Kobe. It makes sense, but it still sucked. The expressway is split up into many sections and each section is owed by someone else. So, you have to go through many toll gates and pay many times rather than just once.

As the sun set as we crossed the bridge from Kobe to Awaji Island. There was a pretty Ferris wheel all lit up with green as soon as we got to the other side.  We kept driving into the night as we made our way through the island and finally onto the island of Shikoku. We drove past Naruto, got gas, and continued on to Tokushima City where we had booked a hotel.

I had done a stupid thing earlier that day and eaten an onigiri rice ball that had been sitting in my car all day. As a result that evening I felt like garbage and could do little else than lie down.  We crashed fairly early.