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

The fourth and final installment of Koya-San (you can start here with Koya-San part 1 if you haven't read about this yet). I apologize for being so lax lately with the blog. It actually takes a couple of hours to publish a detailed post with a lot of photos, and so I kind of get busy or demotivated and don't want to deal with it. I also dont' like Blogger's photo uploading mechanism because no matter where you're at in the post, when you upload a photo, it appears at the very top of the post and so I have to go up to the top and cut the photo and paste it where I actually want it. It wouldn't be such a big deal except, as you know, my posts generally include a LOT of photos. That being said, I would like to get caught up so I will attempt to put some real effort into posting a bit more regularly.

Anyway, back to Koya-San. As I mentioned before, at Koya-San there is a mausoleum which is said to house Kobo Daishi, who has been in a state of eternal meditation since 835 AD. We had toured several of the shrines as well as Japan's largest cemetery (it's 2 kilometers from the entrance to the end) and had made it to Kobo Daishi's mausoleum. The monks take food to Kobo Daishi twice a day, and here is a photo of a monk preparing that food (I believe he is blessing it). We were specifically asked to not take pictures of the monk's faces, so I just got a shot from the back:

There were statues of gods (and goddesses, I assume) and beneath the statues was a basin with water and a ladle. I'm not really sure why, but the premise here was to scoop up some water with the ladle and toss it on the statues. We were told to splash the water on the statues' feet, but the Japanese were really getting into it and splashing water all over the statues. Anyway, here's a shot of A_Random_Japanese_Person01 splashing water on a statue:

Also, did I mention that Japan is pretty? Japan is pretty:

We went into the mausoleum, but I don't have any photos of that. Once again we were asked not to take any pictures. I really wish I could have because in the basement of the mausoleum were hundreds and hundreds of glowing lanterns. Actually, I've found a photo online that someone else took; it's doesn't really give you any scope or perspective on just how many lanterns were there, but just imagine this except HUNDREDS, lighting up a dark room:

So. Pretty.

So, I promised a video of a blonde hitting a gong, but actually there is a flat stone suspended between an arch sort-of-thing, and you hit it with a mallet for good luck or somesuch. The video that I had isn't as long as I thought, but you can get the point from it I think. Here's Kathryne hitting the stone:

Near the mausoleum grounds is an area where companies have donated statues in honor of the dead, or as promises of peace, or to honor their workers, etc. It's very strange because the area sort of looks like a cemetery also, but instead of tombstones, there are stones denoting names of companies like NISSAN or Panasonic, etc.

And then, inexplicably, a rocket (something about space?):

We finished out our tour and Kathryne, Lindzi and I celebrated with ice cream. We then boarded our fuchsia bus and headed back to the main parking area, where we were dropped off for 3 hours of free time. We headed into the town and did some shopping and had lunch at a restaurant. I think by this point I was weary of taking pictures of everything because I don't have a single picture of this part of the trip. I was tired, too, so after a bit of shopping, I headed back to the bus to relax. On the way there, I ran into Koya-San's mascot, Koya-Kun:

He was taking pictures with kids and holding their hands. When it came to have a picture taken with me on the other hand, he made this face (edited myself out, muahahaha):

So cute!

I went back to the bus and enjoyed a milk I'd picked up from a konbini (<3 Japanese milk <3):

Then we started the ride back down the mountain, which I can only describe as harrowing. The way buses work is that in order to turn, the driver had to take the bus almost to the complete edge of the road and then swing it either right or left; it was especially important on this narrow road with these sharp turns that the driver take the bus out as far as possible in order to make the turn. I was sitting in the second row of seats, so I had a clear view out the front windshield, and to me, each and every time, it felt like he was going to drive the damn bus over a cliff. I am ashamed to say it, but I was completely terrified the whole way down. I tried to distract myself by attempting to get some scenery shots, but from a moving vehicle that's not so easy. Still, here's some of the less-crappy shots I got:

We all made it back alive, obviously. Overall, the trip was really great and is probably one of the highlights of my time here in Japan. I am so glad I went to Koya-San, and if you're in Japan and get a chance to do the same, you should too.