Travel for Life

Koyasan  (高野山), a popular pilgrimage destination for centuries, has been connected to the outside world by a network of pilgrimage trails. While most visitors enter the mountain by cable car nowadays, many of the pilgrimage trails still remain in use. Koyasan Travel—Temple Lodging (Shukubo; YouTube link ) Part of the pilgrimage trails, the Fudozaka Trail (不動坂; click the map to enlarge), leads to Koyasan from Gokurakubashi Station, the lower station of the Koyasan Cablecar. The steep, paved trail is 2.5 kilometers long and takes about an hour to ascend and less time to descend. The trail ends at the Nyonindo temple (女人堂). [1] On 11/27/2016, I have decided to descend from Fudozaka Trail instead of riding the cable car.  I was the only person on the trail at beginning.  However, in the middle of the trail, another young blonde girl passed me by swiftly with a big smile on her face.  I was really surprised to see another soul on that rainy day.  Althoug...

Figure 1.  Autumn Colors could be seen if at the right time Attention: Click  here  to view a mobile-friendly version. On 11/26/2016, I have finally arrived Koyasan (高野山) in the Kansai region of Japan.  Below photo shows the temple called 本覚院 that I have booked for staying overnight.  My goals of visiting Koyasan in the autumn are to: View autumn colors that Koyasan is famous for [7] Stay in a temple to experience the simple life of a Buddhist monk (or Shukubo ) Visit famous places such as Garan (壇上伽藍) and Okunoin (奥の院) Figure 2.  Front view of 本覚院  temple My decision was based on reading an article on japanguide.com , which says that Koyasan is one of the best places in Japan to experience a night at a temple, with more than 50 temples in town serving as shukubo . In this article, I will describe my personal experience of visiting Koyasan―starts with the process of choosing and booking a temple to stay. Which Temple to Sta...