Day 10 – Back to Tokyo

Waking early to the sound of the temple bell, I got dressed quickly (encouraged by the biting cold outside my futon – the kerosene heater switches off automatically after three hours, and it’s cold up in the mountains) and hurried downstairs towards the Ceremony Room with no idea what to expect.  I had a mental image in my head of 10 or so monks, a couple of them performing ceremonial duties while the rest kneeled in neat rows, with me and the two other guests kneeling uncomfortably at the back…

…I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Two monks performed the ceremony, with myself and the two other guests sitting on a bench observing.  The five of us were the only people in the hall.  The ceremony consisted of a constant chant maintained by the two monks, with each of them taking turns to stop for a second or two for breath, so that the chant remained unbroken for the 45 minute ceremony.  This was punctuated by one monk striking a gong, while the other clattered cymbals at two points during it.  At the beginning and end of the ceremony, the monks bowed three times by tipping their heads and bending their knees, and bowed deeply with their foreheads to the ground kneeling twice.  They also rubbed their prayer beads once at the beginning, and twice at the end.

That concluded the morning ceremony, and we were directed to go and have breakfast in the same rooms as our dinner was served in the previous night.  That was the last I saw of my fellow guests, and I don’t believe any more than two words were said between us; they seemed to be more intent on avoiding me than the Japanese are!  I’ve found that a lot actually, the travellers who are willing to share their stories are surprisingly few and far between.

Breakfast was…  surprising.  There was miso soup, two or three varieties of bean, a bowl of rice and selected other vegetables, but not a single bit of fruit.  I had been expecting a much more fruity presence than there was, especially given the presence of strawberries in the previous night’s meal, but not so much as a single sultana appeared in my morning meal.  After trying everything, and finding some more of that grey foam-rubberish stuff which I steered well clear of, I filled up on rice and beans and took off to my room where I packed up my bags ready to take off, as I had to be at the station by 11:20, and check out was at 10.  I checked my phone and found I had a couple of hours to spare, so I set off for a walk.  I took a few photos of the temple gardens as I left.  Side note: the temple has nightingale floors just like the castle in Kyoto.

The cherry trees on Koyasan haven't started to leaf yet. They're still a mass of blossoms.

Blossoms and the front of the temple roof. This is Captain Obvious, signing off.Along the front wall of the temple compound.

The temple is adjacent to a large tract of land set aside for memorials for the dead.  Everyone from shoguns to priests and peasants are enshrined in some fashion here, and the path leads up to a rather well-known mausoleum.  Here are some photos I took along the way.

There were lots of this kind of thing, similar monuments in rows, some stretching back as far as I could see. There would have been tens of thousands of memorials in this area.

This area has been used for these kinds of things for many, many years. In places, the memorials are falling over, forgotten, and the paths are falling apart.

On the other hand, there were also some incredibly new memorials.

Some were huge...

...others a lot more humble.

These tall wooden constructions were scattered throughout the forest of stone. I think they are there for the benefit of pilgrims who walk this path.

It seems a lot of people come by regularly to refresh the flowers on the stones erected for their loved ones.

Unfortunately due to the bitter cold that penetrated even the three layers I was wearing, and the bit of sickness I already had, I decided to cut my walk short and return to my heated room.  There, I drank green tea and waited for check-out time, at which point I left for the bus stop.  At the stop, I met a man who had been born on Koyasan and had lived here his whole life, he was rather old, and had vision problems.  He was very kind and welcomed me to the mountain and wished me well when we parted ways.

The trip back to Tokyo was fast and for the most part uneventful.  Unfortunately I had to pay for my shinkansen ticket, because I miscalculated my JR pass and it actually ran out on the 28th, not the 29th as I thought it did.  Due to that little hiccup, I decided to treat myself to a ride on the Nozomi shinkansen, the fastest one which the JR pass doesn’t cover.  During the ride back to Tokyo I caught up with a few friends and battled to stay connected to the internet as we shot through tunnels at over 300km/hr.

Arrival in Tokyo went smoothly, and it was refreshing to be back on the well-oiled machine that is the Tokyo rail system.  My shinkansen ticket covered the local train to Namba as well (the station nearest my hotel) – that was a nice surprise.

First impressions about the hotel – it’s a $45/night hotel, and it shows.  The room is showing its age, the walls are somewhat dirty, though not unhealthy dirty – just “we’ve been here for years without renovation” dirty.  The hotel doesn’t offer non-smoking rooms unfortunately, so there is a bit of lingering odour.  I would choose a different hotel next time, however it isn’t unliveable, and the odour isn’t unbearably bad.  With the window open the situation is greatly improved.  The location is great, and there are a number of cafes and other eating houses around to choose from.  All in all, it’s not terrible for the price, and it’ll do for the 5 nights I’m staying.  I’m not planning on spending a lot of time in it in any event.

Waking early to the sound of the temple bell, I got dressed quickly (encouraged by the biting cold outside my futon - the kerosene heater switches off automatically after three hours, and it\'s cold up in the mountains) and hurried downstairs towards the Ceremony Room with no idea what to expect.  I had a mental ...