高野山 Koyasan

２０１２年２月１８日

Always wanted to go down and check out Koyasan. I especially wanted to go down and check out the Autumn leaves in Koyasan, but I was always too busy. Luckily, a group called WhyNot!? JAPAN had an outing going to Koyasan, so I jumped on board with my friend Helen and off we went! Koyasan is also an important part in the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage.

First we left from Nankai Namba Station (南海難波駅) and we caught a train all the way down to Koyasan. We were even blessed with falling snow (It hadn’t snowed that heavy in over many, many years)! We stayed at a temple in Koyasan, even had the all-you-can-drink (飲み放題) party in the temple.

We got to check out the sites and surrounding areas, especially some temples and the graveyard site. There’s a well, and if you look down and can’t see your reflection it means that you’re going to die within 3 years (? I think…). Lucky for us we saw our reflection!
 

 

We got to eat 精進料理 (shoujin ryouri) – Basically the vegetarian Buddhist Monk food. I’ve eaten it before in Korea when I did a temple stay at Odaesan, but this food in Koyasan was incredibly delicious!

We even had the 飲み放題 (all you can drink) party in the shukubou! We got to try a new type of beer by Suntory before it was released to the public!! ^_^

After exploring, warming our frost bitten toes and fingers, eating and drinking… it was time for bed.
The next day we did a little more sightseeing where Helen and I tried to do a bit of shuffling due to the current popular song by LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem.
{Reminder to insert later}

Time to head back to Osaka, though this time we got to ride the Tenku – a train with the purpose of letting you view the scenery as you travel.