Koya-San, the mountain that stole my heart (among other things) - Part II

So, when we left off, I'd had my shoes stolen and was being a mopey little baby about it, and you were watching a video of Buddhist monks chanting. While we were touring the shrines, Kondo-Sensei received a phone call from the shrine where my shoes had gone missing. They hadn't found them, but they'd rented me a pair of shoes to use for the weekend (when my shoes had gone missing, they'd asked for a description which included my shoe size). It was very sweet of them to rent shoes for me, but I'm not sure how they managed to get the wrong size. I wear a 25.5 in Japanese-size. They had picked out two pairs and one was too big, the other too small. There was a moment of confusion, because Toyono-san kept asking me if these were okay, or if they were better than the ones I'd been using (shrine slippers, mind you). I got the feeling I wasn't really supposed to turn down the ill-fitting shoes. The conversation went something like this:

"How are the shoes?"
"Oh, this pair is a little too small."
"What about these?"
"They're too big."
"Are they better than the slippers?"
"Yes, but they are too big."
"But they're better than the slippers?"
"Well, technically, yes, but they are too big."
"Do you want to keep using the slippers?"
"No, but I'd like to go to a shoe store to buy some shoes."
"But these are better than the slippers?"

To which I finally was like yes, these are fine. But then asked Kondo-sensei if we could stop by a shoe store at some point. I had been told we'd be doing a LOT of walking the following day and I didn't want to do that with ill-fitting shoes. After we toured the shrines we boarded the bus and the rest of the group headed to the Tokugawa Mausoleum, and I headed with Kondo-sensei to a shoe store. I missed out on the mausoleum, but found a new pair of Champion tennies for 4200 yen. After that, we met up with the bus and the rest of the group and then headed to our quarters for the evening. This is the place:

I really like Japanese architecture:

Without this little guy, the whole thing would collapse!

The shrine is nestled in the mountains, surrounded by tall, tall pine trees:

We were invited in for tea, another tatami room:

Ochya! Japanese green tea and a red bean paste filled sweet:

After tea, we were shown to our rooms. This is where we would be sleeping:

Here's a shot from within the room, looking towards the exit:

When we had dinner, the monks came in and moved the table out onto the veranda and put down futons for us to sleep on. We were five total in this room, and it was probably the best night's sleep I'd had since coming to Japan; that's likely in part to the peacefulness of the area, but also how tired I was after not getting much sleep the night before. Also, we stayed up late and played Uno and I had a drink or two, so that certainly didn't hurt :)

There were Yukata (casual kimonos) laid out for us for after our baths:

Some shots of the garden area:

Stairs leading up to our room:

This tea was always here in case you ever wanted some. I assume the monks refilled it; it was always hot and fresh:

Hallway in front of our room:

Sliding door to our room:

The view from our window:

We took baths in the traditional style. For obvious reasons, I don't have pictures of my own, but I took one from another website. You sit on a stool and wash yourself first, making sure to be completely clean. This is done in a room with other women (it's segregated by gender, obviously) and was probably the most uncomfortable part for me. I don't mind being in a gigantic tub with other naked women, but cleaning myself in front of other people was very odd. This will give you an idea of what the bathing area looked like (though it's not the one we were in, I could not take pictures of that as I said):

Once squeaky-clean, I then moved into the actual bathing area which was just one gigantic bath tub with SUPER hot water in it. Being in this area with all of these other women was a study in eye-contact. And I wasn't the only one who felt that way; it was just weird and it's a huge cultural gap, especially for Americans who are so weird about nudity.

That being said, it was SO NICE to soak. We don't have bath tubs in the dorms, nor did we have them in my hostel; this bath was the first (and may end up being the only) I took in Japan. In Texas, I rely on baths as a quick and efficient way to warm up (hot bath during the winter) or cool down (cool bath during the summer) or just plain relax (warm soak). It's something I'd taken for granted, and one of the things I really miss. My to-do list for my first day back in the U.S. looks something like this: Steak dinner at Texas Roadhouse, bath.

Anyway, it was nice to soak. I didn't stay in for long because it was so hot. I would say it was noticeably hotter than my parent's hot tub, which is normally at 106 F (41.1 C), so that should give you an idea of just how hot this water was. I wish it hadn't been so hot, because I would have enjoyed soaking longer. I could have gotten out and sat on the edge, but I was feeling self-conscious enough as it was. After the bath, we all changed into our yukatas and went back to the tea room for dinner.

The monks prepared dinner for us.

This is actually a picture of breakfast, but dinner was VERY similar:

It was the traditional food of the monks; vegetarian. Lots of tofu. The rice went the fastest. They had even prepared extra rice for us but both during dinner and breakfast the next morning, it disappeared quickly. After dinner, a group of us decided to find the nearest konbini. Lindzi wanted sweets, I wanted beer, and many of our group wanted MEAT. I think it was kind of funny because some people may very well have ordered a similar dinner off a menu at a restaurant without issue, but now because vegetarian food was the ONLY option, it was suddenly a problem. At about 8:40, we set out in search of the konbini, with a warning that the gate to the shrine would be closed at 9pm. We were in a hurry, we didn't want to be locked out of the temple, but we'd been given shoddy directions and actually went the exact opposite direction we were supposed to.

After walking quite a ways, we knew we wouldn't find it and so headed back to the temple. When we reached it, we ran into a group who had just come from the konbini and they told us the right way to go. However, it was 8:55. We had five minutes. The group told us it was "a bit of a ways" - whatever that means. In reality, it was only four or five blocks away. We rushed there, purchased our various sundry items, and then Lindzi and I dashed back - running much of the way. Okay, she ran the entire way. I ran... out of breath... But we made it! And then found out that only the MAIN GATE closed at 9 but the "side gate" (wherever that was) would still be open. Oh well! We made it back in time.

The remainder of the evening was spent playing Uno with several of the French girls and then going to bed pretty late. In the next post, I'll tell you about the early morning prayer ceremony and the cemetery/mausoleum that houses Kobo Daishi!