Wakayama, Shikoku, Okayama: Day 2

Well...today was a surprise!  I was expecting mountain scenery, a light hike, and maybe a few scattered temples. I guess I didn't do my research quite as thoroughly as I thought, because my visit to Mt. Kōya (高野山) had a lot more than that.

Houses are packed close together, even on a mountainside.
The bit of orange above the houses is a group of persimmon trees, a fruit for which Wakayama is known.

    
This morning, I woke up early in order to catch the train that would cover the first leg of the trip. A transfer to a second train got me eventually to a cable car, which took me up the mountainside and dropped me off to catch the bus! The whole journey took about three hours in total.
  

  
         

After my arrival, I realized that this was much more than a mountain excursion for most visitors: it's also the location of the head temple of a particular sect of Buddhism, and the mountain was teeming with tourists, pilgrims, and monks...not to mention the residents and shopkeepers!

A local resident

   

Pilgrims can be easily identified by their white vests and walking sticks.

  

In 2015, the monastery is celebrating its 1,200th(!) anniversary.

     
In addition to a modest tourist town, there were several kilometers of road lined by various gates, temples, and pagodas.  Walking down the main street, every few steps there seemed to be another path leading up to a religious site of some sort.

  

  

 
   
Although it was cold--I really wished I'd brought a scarf!--it was also a nice season for viewing autumn leaves, in addition to the beautiful gardens and surroundings of temple grounds.

   

Banryūtei (Japan's largest rock garden) at Kongōbu-ji, the main temple

  

   
It was the perfect opportunity to do one of my favorite things: photograph temple roofs!

Daimon, the main gate at the historical entrance to Kōya-san

Konpon-daito Pagoda

  
And of course there were also a few amusing sights:

Danger everywhere!

These people are searching for triple-forked pine needles, said to bring good luck.
All the tour guides made sure to explain this, so there were hoards of people bending over...

   

...searching through piles of these on the ground.

    
The last part of my visit involved a 2km trek uphill to a temple, through a forest lined with tombstones (supposedly over half a million!).  It was less creepy than it seems, though I'm glad I wasn't there after dark.

   
 But at least some of the deceased had a sense of humor:

  
A 30-minute walk brought me to the top of the mountain (hill?). Before the entrance to Okuno-in Temple, visitors can light incense or candles and throw water onto statues of Jizō guardian dieties.

Devotees pick up the ladles in front of each statue, fill them with water,
and then throw the water onto the statues, "for the mass of the dead".

     
At last! I made it to the temple. Okuno-in is the "central sanctuary" of this sect, and visitors are asked to respect the sanctity of the spot by refraining from photography (beyond the point where I took the next photo) or even speaking above a whisper...

   
After walking back out to the main road, a bus took me to the cable car, which took me to the train, which took me to the next train, which brought me back to Wakayama City and my hotel. :)

After dinner and a little souvenir shopping, I'm back in my room for the night.  Now all I have to do is slather lotion on my wind-burned face, and then get a good night's rest.  Tomorrow's another early morning: I'm taking a ferry across the Seto Inland Sea to the island of Shikoku, where I'll spend the next three days.