A couple from Los Angeles became intrigued by a friend’s pictures of a visit to Japan after seeing their photos. They were even more fascinated when they watched the 2003 film Loss in Translation set in an eerie, glittering Tokyo.
After a couple of years, they finally had the money and time to take ten days off to mark their anniversary in Japan.
They stayed at the luxurious Ginza neighborhood in Tokyo and ate sushi in an intimate 7-seater restaurant. Then, they explored Harajuku’s bizarre fashions. The Bullet Train took them to Kyoto where they enjoyed a Kaiseki-based meal based on the season and saw geishas in the Old City.
The most memorable experience for them was spending a night in Eko Koyasan a Buddhist mountaintop retreat that has 100 active temples.
Mount Koya : Information about the mountain
Mount Koya is the name given to mountains located in Wakayama prefecture, south of Osaka. Koya is also a modified word for Kongobuji. In Japan, there isn’t a single mountain called Koya-san.
Mt. Kokai was first settled by a monk in 819. Koya’s main claim to fame is as the headquarters of Koyasan Shingon, a Japanese Buddhist sect. The original monastery, located in a valley 800m above sea level, surrounded by eight mountain peaks (which is why this place was chosen, as the landscape was supposed to look like a lotus flower), has evolved into Koya. It now includes a religious university and over 120 temples. Many of these offer accommodation to pilgrims.
There are many famous places on the mountain
Okunoin is the mausoleum for Kokai and it’s surrounded by a huge graveyard, which is one of Japan’s largest.
Danjogaran is the heartland for Mt. Koya.
The Shingon religion teaches that Konpon Daito is the center of a large mandala, which includes not just Mt. Koya, but also all of Japan
Kongobu-ji is the main temple of Koyasan Buddhism
In 2004, UNESCO named Mt. Koya and two other places on the Kii Peninsula are World Heritage Sites Sacred Sites and pilgrimage routes in the Kii Mountain Range.