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Writer's pictureSteve von Werder

Koyasan, Day One

Rain. That needs to be your first image. Not torrential, just persistent.


Instagram is my guess. :)

All the students had finally gathered together at Tengachaya Station, and we hopped on the Nankai Line, headed to Gokurakubashi, at the foot of Koya mountain.



A shift to a cable car got us up the mountain, and from there, the bus company pulled a bus out of the garage just for us so that we could get to Jimyoin, our Temple lodging for the night.


持明院 is inscribed on stone on the right.

It's about 12:08 in the daytime, and we have dropped off our luggage at Jimyoin. About a 3 and a half hour journey to get here. And, just so you don't forget, cue the rain.



At this point, we walk everywhere with umbrellas; first to lunch. Our initial "go-to" was closed. Ok, turn around and find another place. In class today, students were asked to name their favorite Japanese foods. I heard these foods mentioned a lot!


After that, it's off to a couple of temples in the rain. We were on our own for two hours, so we managed alright, I guess. Most of this area is affiliated with Kobo Daishi, the founder of Shingon Buddhism, who you can read about here.


So after that, we walked to Daishi Kyokai to slow things down, and we wrote out the Heart Sutra in Japanese. It was a reflective, calming time.


We returned to Jimyoin for dinner, and then to the showers later.



Directly outside their rooms was this lovely garden.

Although much louder that evening, everyone was SO quiet at dinner time. I still don't know why. Maybe it's that nervous feeling about what they are getting ready to eat. Maybe it was because they were in the presence of their Japanese teachers.


oh boy. what have I gotten myself into?

But ask your kids one question, "Was it worth it?" You can bet they say yes!

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