While very few tourists use it to enter Koyasan, most entering via Koyasan Train Station, the Daimon, or Great Gate, is the sacred main entrance to Mount Koya. Like many day-trip visitors today, this was our last stop in Koyasan before heading back to Osaka, after a rather late lunch in a small local restaurant close to the Daimon. Continue reading “Sacred Entrance to Mount Koya – Daimon”
In this two part review (this being part 2) I will introduce you to some of the main buildings and structures within the Danjo Garan Complex – the headquarters of Shingon Buddhism in Japan. If you have not read my introductory review on the complex and how it came to be where it is I recommend you do so prior to continuing. Continue reading “Danjo Garan Complex – Buildings Part 2”
In this two part review (this being part 1) I will introduce you to some of the main buildings and structures within the Danjo Garan Complex – the headquarters of Shingon Buddhism in Japan. If you have not read my introductory review on the complex and how it came to be where it is I recommend you do so prior to continuing. Continue reading “Danjo Garan Complex – Buildings Part 1”
Having selected, in 816, with the assistance of this trusty vajra (see below), Koyasan as the base for the establishment of Shingon Buddhism in Japan, the priest Kukai (posthumously Kobo Daishi) set about building temples, meeting rooms, and above all the training area necessary for this new religion. Continue reading “Danjo Garan Complex”
Having made our way along the sacred path, lined with tombstones and stone lanterns (many moss covered) and tall cedar trees, for almost two kilometres from Ichinohashi Bridge through the Okunoin Cemetery we arrived at the Gobyonohashi Bridge.
Crossing this bridge brought us into the most sacred part of Okunoin, an area where photography, eating and drinking is prohibited – a very holy place for the Japanese. Continue reading “Okunoin – The Inner Sanctum”
Shingon Buddhism has been very closely tied to the State and supported by the aristocracy since its inception by Kobo Daishi in 816. The latter association giving rise to the term ‘Aristocratic Buddhism’. While many temples in the Danjo Garan (seperate reviews), and elsewhere in Koyasan, were built at the request of, or in memory of, former Japanese Emperors, high ranking military officials and the like, nowhere are these associations more evident than here in the Okunoin Cemetery. Continue reading “The State, Aristocracy, Big Business and Okunoin”
Mist and clouds shrouded the surrounding hills. Snow was gently falling. The wind was cold and biting. Still, when we visited, an extraordinary energy pervaded Okunoin, Japan’s largest cemetery and one of its most holy places. Continue reading “Okunoin Cemetery”
The Rambling Wombat 