Magical Koyosan

It's a strange experience when a graveyard with at least 200,000 dead can be uplifting, but that's just how it is in Koyasan.

It took some effort and planning to get here. It may only be 70km from Osaka, but it took one metro, two trains, one cable car, and then a bus to get here, duration 3 hours. The accommodation is in a monastery, and I had to book this stay way back in April. More on that in my next post.

It was so hot that we had an ice cream lunch. (Plain ice cream with Japanese pepper). Then we went walking through the graveyard, set on a magnificent hilltop woodland, covered in giant cedars. I think it's the perfect setting, the dappled lighting, and the calmness of the place that makes it strangely uplifting.

We walked 2km through the graveyard to Okinuion temple and the nearby temple of lanterns. Both are very simple but also very tasteful.

So if I ever make a list of top 10 graveyards, this one might be number 1.Read more