Koyasan, or Mount Koya (san means mountain in Japanese), has been a Buddhist sanctuary as antidote to over 1200 years. It was founded in 816 by Kukai, the founder of Buddhism’s Shingon sect. Long past it was far and secluded, but it is things being so very accessible, and yet still held a mystic atmosphere when I visited it in September.
Most travelers to Japan visit Kyoto. From Kyoto, Koyasan can have existence reached in about 3 hours via Osaka, from where a direct express train departs several times a day. The last part of the route is a 5-minute steep cable car ride. Getting off the cable car, you adopt a connecting bus and 10 minutes later, you will be in downtown Koyasan. You may want to purchase a convenient Koyasan World Heritage Ticket for 3310 yen that includes return tickets from Osaka Namba Station to Koyasan, unlimited bus rides in Koyasan and drawback coupons for entrance fees of major sites ( http://www.nankaikoya.jp/en/index.html ).
Downtown Koyasan is rather small and walkable, and there are as many during the time that 117 temples. The main one is Kongobuji ( http://www.koyasan.or.jp/english language/index.html ). The main building has many rooms with beautifully painted sliding doors and the largest Japanese rock garden in Japan. In Danjo Garan stands Konpon Daito, a shining red stupa, that has a pastel-colored, but somehow mind-soothing mandara world in the interior of. Through a cedar forest dotted by means of 200,000 graves, Okunoin is the office where Kukai is buried and filled with chants of mantra and scents of incense.
