Located to the south of Ōsaka in Wakayama Prefecture is a group of eight mountains, which is named Kōya-san. In 819 the Buddhist monk Kūkai picked this 800 m high valley amid the eight peaks of the mountains, because in his view it resembled a lotus plant. Today the town of Kōya features an university dedicated to religious studies and 120 temples of which some offer lodging with vegetarian food for pilgrims and tourists. Definitely missed out on the vegetarian food :(. I wish I had known about that sooner. Our day started early this morning with a train ride from Kyoto to Ōsaka and then to Wakayama. That followed a short cable car trip and a bus tour leading to Kōya. Here we found beautiful ornate wooden walls, gates and buildings. Our path guided us directly to Okunoin, the mausoleum of Kūkai, which is surrounded by Japan's largest and most famous old cemetery including the graves of important historical figures. Beside the older graves amid this mysterious necropolis of vast cedar trees and mossy tombstones lays a newer part, filled with war memorials and outlandish company tombs for major Japanese corporations such as Panasonic, Nissan or Toyota. A luxury that is not affordable for the average low-income worker, since 91cm x 91cm (the size of a tatami mat that is used for flooring in traditional Japanese-style rooms) of ground area costs about 10,000 €.
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Grave of Iyeasu Tokugawa's second son, which family reigned over
Japan more than 200 years and led Japan into its isolation from the world |
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| Grave of warlord Oda Nobunaga |
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