Koyasan, Japan – 2026

I took the photo above as I could not get over how he could walk in those shoes.

We only had one evening in Osaka after our flight so we were able to go out for dinner and a bit of a walk but that was it. The next morning we left early to head to Sekishoin Temple Monastery Homestay. To get there, we had to walk to the subway, took one, then more walking and then another subway and then more walking to the train station. The train was about another 2 hours and then we had to take a cable car and then last but not least, a bus took us the rest of the way into the mountains to Koyasan (Mt Koya). It was a lot of transporting to get us there!

When we got to the Monastery Homestay, we had to take our shoes off before entering the building, no shoes allowed. We were given our room key and this place was quite a lot nicer than when we stayed in South Korea at the other Monastery. You entered our room and there was a small hallway which led into a big room with a closet and then you walked through that room into the bedroom. Just past the bedroom, we had an enclosed patio space and then outside of that room, we had our own outdoor patio space. As soon as you came in, to the right, we three other rooms, one was a toilet, one for the shower and one for the sink. Strange setup but we enjoyed our stay here.

We had the afternoon to explore and Clint and I walked through the town, so here are a few photos I took when we went to the Danjo Garan Sacred Temple Complex built over 1200 years ago. It was built as a place for secret training in Shingon esoteric Buddhism. In Koyasan there are approximately 116 temples and 52 monasteries in this area. All these buildings had different names of which I do not remember.

We also went on a walking tour of Okunoin, the site of the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi, the founder of Shingon Buddhism. Okunoin’s cemetery, the largest in Japan, has over 200,000 tombstones lining the 2 kilometer walkway to Kobo Daishi’s mausoleum. Over 1 million people are buried here and some of the tombs are 500-600 years old. You will notice that some statues are wearing bibs or little red hats; they believe this wards off evil spirits and the colour red stands for life and health. I could go into great detail about the different temples, history etc but I could be here all week typing! If you are interested, there are links you can click on throughout my blogs to get more info.

Later the first day, we were able to purchase, if we wanted, pieces of wood to put a wish on, written in Japanese, and our name on the other side. Clint and I both did this and then we got up super early the next morning and went to the room where they do their prayers. We had to bow before 4 different spots and then the Monk took our sticks and burned them. It was very interesting to say the least.

It was definitely an experience which we enjoyed but after that, we headed off to Hiroshima…………