Trip to the Kii Peninsula I – traveling to Osaka & Koyasan

We've been back in Australia for a little while (almost three weeks!) and our trip to Japan seems like ages and ages ago. It's been extremely busy for us at work (lots of clients and upcoming court dates for me to deal with, collaboration brews and trips to Sydney and Tamworth, getting ready for a new canning line for Reid) and of course there's been a lot of chores to catch up with at home and in the garden.

We flew from Brisbane to Cairns and from Cairns to Osaka, arriving around 7:00pm and taking the first express train from the airport to the city (fun fact: the Kansai International Airport, built on a man-made island is the world's most expensive public works project.) We stayed in an old neighborhood called Shinsekai ("New World") and had a bit of of a wander around the night district which was pretty quiet on a Wednesday night, but the enormous illuminated fugu (blowfish) was no less stunning.

Shinsekai night district

Tsutenkaku Tower and giant blowfish

Fugu restaurant (we did not eat any fugu.)

The street in front of Hotel Taiyo, our accommodation.
Like other Japanese cities we've visited there were bicycles parked everywhere on the streets.

After our morning errands we took a shortcut back to the train station through a lovely quiet park

Osaka is famous for a castle (which we did not see) however there was a small replica of said castle
on top of a building in our area. We also passed a large school group of children wearing matching red hats.

We didn't spend very much time in Osaka: the next morning we went to a Don Kihote department store ("Don Quijote") to pick up a couple necessities we couldn't fit in our bags lest they be overweight on our cheap flights: wet wipes, bug spray, extra bottles of water (and some non-necessities: dried squid, sake, an unnecessarily huge pack of senbei snacks.) From there it was off to the train station to our first destination: Mount Koya in Wakayama Prefecture.

On our way to Koyasan! After the outer reaches of the city the mountains and farmland appeared.

The train from Osaka to Mount Koya will only take you so far: the last stop before the mountain will drop you at a cable car which will take you to Mount Koya, unless you want to climb the old pilgrimage route instead. We did: we got off the train at the penultimate stop for the purpose of walking part of the old Koyasan Choishi-michi path, which is a 24 kilometre path to Mount Koya with a choishi stone marker every 109 metres. (We did not walk the full 24km but about 10km starting at Kii-Hosokawa Station.) The stupa stone markers were erected in 1285 to replace the former wooden posts which marked the path: 179 (out of 216) of these choishi stupas are original to this period.

View from Kii-Hosokawa Station, the quiet village of Hosokawa below.

It was a three and a half kilometre hike from the station to the actual Koyasan Choishi-michi, but it was a beautiful and scenic walk. We were the only two people to disembark at this station and yet there was a station attendant (and station cat) there to greet us. I cannot really express how beautiful and serene the valley at Kii-Hosokawa was. Perhaps coming from autumn in Australia and coming from the bustling city of Osaka – but stepping off the train into this lush and verdant valley was an amazing feeling. Once the train disappeared around the bend in the mountain all was still and quiet. That is: until the clock hit midday and music filled the air. Dramatic rousing choral music played from the village broadcast system permeated the valley. It was surreal. (Reid took a video so I'll have to share later.) The fact that music played wasn't the astonishing part, as we've heard morning and evening music broadcast through towns many times before. But to be thrown from this utterly quiet valley into the setting of an epic movie was something else. We felt rather shwazzy indeed.

Road down the hill from the station into the valley

Tall bamboo

Idyllic Hosokawa valley

Terraced rice fields, yet to be planted.

We didn't realise it at first but some of the hillsides in this valley were planted in tea bushes.

We saw many small, roadside shrines on this walk.

A shrine to Ojizo-sama, bodhisattva and protector of children.

The road continuing on and up.

Along the road we only saw one person: an elderly man greeted us and asked us where we were going.
We walked along the road together until he reached his home, then bade him goodbye and continued on.

Azaleas and an alpine black swallowtail

Heading into the forest.

A small hillside Shinto shrine at Yadate, where we got onto the actual Choishi Stupa trail.

More Ojizo-sama. (We were about to see many, many Ojizo-sama on this trip.)

An enormous cedar tree

Choishi five-tiered stupa

A collection of Ojizo-sama statues and offerings along the path.

A scenic lookout almost at Mount Koya

Directions to Koyasan and a warning for bears. We saw a surprising amount of bear alerts
around Mount Koya: apparently there had been a recent sighting.

A sea of sasa (a type of bamboo) underneath the trees.

Mount Koya is not exactly part of the Shikoku 88 Temple pilgrimage, however pilgrims often visit Mount Koya at the beginning and at the end of their pilgrimage and this is the trail they would travel. We actually saw a pilgrim on his way to Mount Koya heading in the same direction as us: walking at a similar pace just somewhat behind us, the sound of bells on his pilgrim's staff accompanied us all the way to Mount Koya.

The Choishi Stupa footpath was overall a pleasant climb, walking through the quiet forest through dappled shade and watching for the next choishi stupa to appear (although it did get a bit steep and rigorous as we climbed the mountain.) But all of a sudden we turned the bend and there we were at the Daimon Gate, the formal entrance into Mount Koya. Just as the name implies, it is a "big gate". Over 25 metres high it is an impressive gateway to the town. The Daimon Gate was reconstructed in 1705.

Next up: Mount Koya, the headquarters of esoteric Shingon Buddhism in Japan. Stay tuned...

O-henro (pilgrim) passing through the formal entrance to Koyasan.