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Last week was one of the biggest holiday seasons in Japan - Golden Week. During this week, there are three national holidays - Showa Day (the birthday of emperor Hirohito), Children’s Day, and Constitution Day. Additionally, since Children’s Day and Constitution Day are always separated by a single day, the day in between has come to be known as People’s Day, since most people will get some kind of vacation on that day as well. This year, since Children’s Day fell on a Saturday and Constitution Day on a Monday, the Golden Week season ran from Tuesday, April 29th until Tuesday, May 6th.

What does this holiday season mean for us? Well, we didn’t get eight or nine days off like many Japanese do, but we did have a very light schedule last week and we didn’t have to work Monday or Tuesday of this week. This is the only four-day weekend that we’ll get the entire year that we’re in Japan, so we had to take advantage of it. So, we prepared ourselves for the ridiculous crowds that were bound to be everywhere during Golden Week and, last Saturday morning, set off for Koyasan.

Koyasan is a raised plateau about 1000m above sea level on the Kii Peninsula in Wakayama prefecture that is home to the Shingon sect of Buddhism. Shingon, is the only other example of Vajrayana Buddhism (with the exception of isolated sects in China) in the world besides Tibetan Buddhism. It was founded by a monk named Kukai in the ninth century after he brought the esoteric teachings from China. The ability to affect earthly problems with esoteric practices involving mandala and mantra helped the sect become successful in a period rife with political and military conflict. After Kukai left the sect (I say left because it is still commonly believed that he resides in deep samadhi in Koyasan, awaiting the coming of Maitreya) he became known by the title Kobo Daishi, and is best recognized in images or statues by his traveler’s hat and stick. Many pilgrims imitate this dress as they complete their pilgrimages:

Our first stop in Koyasan was Okunoin, a beautiful graveyard where a huge number of famous Buddhists are buried, or at least partially buried - one of the great benefits of the Japanese practice of cremation is that it’s then quite easy to be buried in more than one place. Additionally, the graveyard holds a memorial to Kobo Daishi that is one of the most atmospheric places I’ve ever visited. The smell of the incense, the chanting of the monks, and the strange light given off by the thousands of lanterns in the temple made it incredibly unique:

After Okunoin, we checked into Kamagaiji, a Shukubo, or temple with guest lodging. An hour after arriving we were served dinner in our rooms, in the vegetarian style passed down by the monks for centuries:

Later, we changed into our yukata (summer or sleeping kimonos) and went to bed early, as we had to wake up at 6:00 the next morning for the Buddhist ceremony:

I’ll end my post on Koyasan for now, but look forward to the rest of Koyasan, Nara and Kyoto in the next several days.