We had dinner and then we all retired to our rooms for lights out. The monks get up very early (I think around 4:30 AM), so we were asked to be quiet after 10pm. There was five girls in our room including myself, and some other girls joined us and we basically stayed up late into the night playing Uno and talking. I think I finally turned in around 1 or 1:30, I'm not really sure. It was a fantastic night's sleep, though I was sleeping on the floor.
We had been told that we were invited to join prayer at 6:30AM that Sunday morning. It was to be a Buddhist prayer ceremony (frankly, I'm not really sure what to call it because I'm not well-versed in Buddhism). Though I hadn't gotten a whole lot of sleep, I really wanted to go because I figured I may very well never get another chance in my whole life to witness a Buddhist prayer ceremony/ritual in a Buddhist temple in Japan. So, I was up and at 'em at about 6:15, changed out of my PJs and headed downstairs. Naturally, I have no pictures of the ceremony, but it was pretty interesting. The room smelled of incense (as all Buddhist shrines do), and the monk chanted from Sutras for about 20 minutes (I'd guess) and interspersed his chanting by ringing a small bell. We were seated on the floor in a small but heavily decorated room with statues of Buddha, lanterns hanging from the ceiling, black-and-gold lacquered decorations, etc. After the chanting, those of the Buddhist faith (or those who simply wanted to, I suppose), went to the altar and prayed to the Buddha individually. After that, the monk led us into a back room where there was a larger statue of the Buddha and various holy items. I wish I could have taken pictures of this, but... c'est la vie.
After the prayer ceremony it was breakfast, and then we said good-bye to the monks and our lodgings, and headed off to Okunoin Temple (in our big fuchsia bus, naturally -- as an aside, can you even believe how fuchsia is spelled? This word makes absolutely no sense).
Okunoin is the site of the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi (also known as Kukai), the founder of Shingon Buddhism and one of the most revered persons in the religious history of Japan. Instead of having died, Kobo Daishi is believed to rest in eternal meditation as he awaits Miroku Nyorai (Maihreya), the Buddha of the Future, and provides relief to those who ask for salvation in the meantime. To get to Kobo Daishi's mausoleum, we walked through Japan's largest cemetery (it is about a 2km walk). I literally have hundreds of photos of this place. I love Japanese cemeteries and this was certainly no exception. The weather was cool and refreshing, especially up in the mountains and under the tall pines. Here is a whole bunch of pictures because I can't really put this place into words:
This next photo is especially interesting me because (and I'm not 100% clear on the reasons as to why this is in a Buddhist cemetery in Japan) written on this giant piece of stone is the story of Genesis and Adam and Eve (from, you know, Christianity)... My understanding of the history of it is that a woman (whose name I do not know and can't find the information about on Google) felt that Shingon Buddhism had roots in Christianity and so she wanted to dedicate a piece of Koya-San to Christianity itself. In Chinese. Let's go over that again, shall we? In a Buddhist cemetery, in Japan, there is a giant stone tablet which tells the story of Genesis, from the Christian Bible and oh, it's written in Chinese. Weird, huh? Anyway, here's a shot of the tablet:
And a close-up:
And more photos!
All over Japan, at shrines and cemeteries and even random streetcorners, you can find small statues of a monk. You might not notice them, as the architecture of Japan sort of blends together after a bit (the old and new, modern and antique); but you notice Jizo, the monk's statue. Why? Because he inevitably has a bib on him. It seems a bit silly at first, but then you learn the reasoning behind it; though Jizo is patron and helper to all, he is also said to protect children and especially to help the souls of dead children find their way to Nirvana. Therefore, parents who have outlived their children often bring him offerings, burn incense, and place a bib on his statue(s) to remind him to help their children find their way.
I'd like to think this is a house for the Kodama.
More random shots (I have so much I want to share):
Here is a shot of our tour guide explaining something to us (she spoke English):
We were nearing Kobo Daishi's mausoleum, but hey! Let's do some more random shots first!
Japan is really, really pretty:
Okay, so I'm going to stop here for now. I know this was mostly HEY HERE'S SOME PICTURES and not a lot of content or story about what I saw and did, but it's almost 3:30 in the morning and I'm really tired and I'm not going to do any more of this tonight. That said, I will finish out the Koya-San post in the next update. We still have the mausoleum and the THRILLING bus ride home as well as some video of a blonde hitting a gong (sort of)!
