Koyasan

Kobo Daishi (Kukai) was born in 774; in 805 he returned to Japan after two years in China, from where he introduced Shingon (Esoteric) Buddhism. He was given permission by the Emperor to set up a home for the sect. After searching he chose Koyasan’s mountain top, at a height of around 1,000 meters.

At one point Koyasan had over 2,000 temples but fires caused by lightning have resulted in a consolation to 117 temples today, about half of which provide guest accommodation. The town has 3,000 residents of which 800 are monks or novice monks. Walking down the main street, every other building is a temple, with the remaining businesses supporting the pilgrims and tourists.

Today Koyasan is reached by train (in our case about two and a half hours from Kyoto) and cable car. The latter stages through the mountains are very picturesque.