Tuesday, 25 October 2011

Adventures in Kansai, part 2 - Koya-san

After a couple of days in Osaka I was ready to get out of the city. I decided to head to Koya-san, a place I'd never been to before, or even heard of before reading about it in my guide book. It's in an area of Japan known as the Kii peninsula, a rural area of forested mountains. I took the train from Namba station in Osaka for the one and a half hour ride to Gokurakubashi station, passing through some very nice scenery along the way. Then I boarded a small cable car for a short ten minute climb to Koya-san station, around 800 metres above sea level. After that I bought a day bus pass for 800 yen, so I could hop on and off the buses which circulate around the main sights.

My first stop was Okuno-in, an area of over 200,000 tombs and mausoleums - the largest graveyard in Japan. Some of the burial mounds are hidden in the forest and covered in green moss and obviously very old, there are also some interesting statues and it's a very atmospheric place to wander around, epecially in the moments of peace when there are no other people around and you can't hear a thing except the sounds of the forest.



I also saw a few temples and a large gate called Daimon, which marks the main entrance to Koya-san.


Finally, I went on a short hiking trail, passing under quite a few traditional red torii gates, and with occasional views of the sprawling countryside below. Supposedly on a clear day you can see as far as the island of Shikoku, but I couldn't see that far.


As the buses weren't very frequent (sometimes more than an hour between buses) I decided to call it a day after the short hike. I'm sure there must be a few sights I missed out, and it may be worth doing this area with an overnight stay and two days to take in the sights. In any case, it's well worth a visit.

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