Sorry, make that "Mt Koya"--maybe the moderator can edit the title...

Anyone been there? This apparently a center for Buddhism in Japan, with over 120 temples. I have read about a number that offer lodging and meals to guests.

Has anyone been there and stayed there? Recommendations? Two days? Three days?

And--observations/suggestions/warnings on cultural issues, etc. I have some basic understandings of Buddhism, but no real experience to speak of.

Thanks!

JP

[This message has been edited by j379pa (edited Mar 24, 2004).]

Hi j379pa,

Koyasan, the land of pilgrims. Have never been there myself but friends say that as there are a lot of temples to see, it's better to go and visit for at least 3 or 4 days.

But it obviously depends if you go there with some specific religious interest or just for a bit of tourism, in which case you can easily do it for 2 days as the nearest station is 80 minutes away from Osaka then off to the cable car.

Found the websites below interesting.
http://www.shukubo.jp/eng
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4900.html

j379pa, I've stayed at Mt. Koya once and will be staying there again next weekend. The temples are largely identical, I was happy with Daienin (http://www.rose.sannet.ne.jp/dai-en-in/) last time and am staying there again.

That said, Koya is not exactly your ascetic mountain hermit experience, with 120 temples and lots of tourists it's a reasonably busy place. But the graveyard area around the Oku-no-In is still reasonably atmospheric, especially at night (spooky...). Other than that and the Konpon Daido there isn't all that much to see though, even 1 night is enough and 2 would be plenty.

The sect of Buddhism at Koya, Shingon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingon) , is one of the more interesting ones in Japan -- it belongs to the Vajrayana aka Tantric school, famous for kinky sex, but alas (?) the Shingon version is a bit more toned down. The doctrines are veeeeery complex, but to drastically oversimplify Vajrayana claims that you can use external aids like mantra chanting, sculpture, paintings, etc to help you achieve enlightenment -- this being the opposite of the Zen approach, where everything is in your own head. Consequently Shingon temples may appear even a little gaudy to most tastes, lots of bright primary colors, glittering gold and incense wafting about. Joining in one of the mantra-chanting sessions at 6 AM is guaranteed to be memorable, just sitting and listening is fine; the Japanese don't understand the words either because it's all Sanskrit!