![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
diamondlifeI was wondering why I'm so tired, then I remembered, I've been up an unusual amount of time because I got up before 6 to join the monks at their morning ceremony.
Yes, I stayed on the holy mountain of Koya-san last night, at Rengejoin temple, and it was probably the most worthwhile thing I've done since I've been in Japan. Oh my word. It just all felt so special, I'm so glad I did it. When I arrived they brought tea and a sweet, and there's a very newly-installed looking bathroom and toilets, and they come later and lay out the bedding. It wasn't warm (I read somewhere it's 10 degrees colder than the city at this time of year, so it was pleasantly cool), but it was wonderful just strolling through the corridors around the little gardens. And of course you get vegetarian Buddhist cuisine too - best miso soup I've ever had, for breakfast this morning!
Koya-san itself contains over 50 temples, and is where the founder of the Shingon Buddhist sect, Kobo Daishi, is in "eternal meditation". You climb a hill through an enormous graveyard up to his mausoleum at the top - I'm not a Buddhist, and so I don't pray at the temples (it would feel like I was taking it too lightly), but it's impossible to remain unmoved. It doesn't feel touristy or showy, like a lot of temples do - the visitors are mainly genuine pilgrims, who chant and pray at the temples and tombs. You can't have anything but respect.
There's also a museum in the town, and a precinct of other holy buildings, with absolutely loads of amazing Buddhist works of art. Going into the big pagoda, the monk there gave everyone some brown, incense-like powder to rub into their hands, and there's burning incense everywhere - I love the smell, I hope it's still on me a bit!
(Oh yes, and the day before, I had another day in Nara, and I went to a couple more temples there too, cos it was a gorgeous sunny day. Yeah, I know I go to a lot of temples, but I haven't got bored of them yet! I love the statues and art and history and atmosphere and chanting and incense and shiny gold things!)
I met an anime fan in the temple too. XD (He was on a tour that sounded like the one you came on,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aicha!) You meet people in the weirdest places, don't you... ^^' I've met a few now - all guys so far, which reduces the chances of corrupting them with other gay shiny stuff, but never mind, they've been cool. And English, which is how I got talking to them in the first place.
I set off from Koya-san about 1pm today, and finally made it to Yokohama (I keep typoing it as "Yokoyama" ^^') about... 8. XD Well, it was before 8, but there's always a certain amount of faffing around while you come out of the station, realise you came out of the wrong exit, realise you got off at a station you didn't mean to get off at, buy another ticket, get back on the train etc etc, but I finally got into a hotel about 8.30. (I asked how much; the woman said "7-something something" and I was like "YES", I was so relieved to find anywhere! XD) It seems pretty nice too - massive hotel, small room, but ensuite and with a nice little goodie bag. :D Here for 2 nights - meetinghoneybeanlove tomorrow!! Then on to Nagano. ...Oh crap, need to get that booked. Oh! And yeah, it was something that had gone wrong with my laptop, though I don't know what - I just rolled it back to a couple of weeks ago. :/ I suspect Firefox, actually, because it's lost all my bookmarks and has been acting really weird, like not letting me read my mail and opening loads of empty tabs. o.o Oh well, at least it's working again! *cling* (Hmm, feels weird adding that to an entry that started so reverentially, but well, it's all part of the journey, I guess...)
Fandom post to follow - will filter, as I don't wanna bore/freak out the non-fandom folks. ^^'
Oh! Yeah, Snaps Cup Love Meme thing! Everyone likes having nice things said about them! ;D
Yes, I stayed on the holy mountain of Koya-san last night, at Rengejoin temple, and it was probably the most worthwhile thing I've done since I've been in Japan. Oh my word. It just all felt so special, I'm so glad I did it. When I arrived they brought tea and a sweet, and there's a very newly-installed looking bathroom and toilets, and they come later and lay out the bedding. It wasn't warm (I read somewhere it's 10 degrees colder than the city at this time of year, so it was pleasantly cool), but it was wonderful just strolling through the corridors around the little gardens. And of course you get vegetarian Buddhist cuisine too - best miso soup I've ever had, for breakfast this morning!
Koya-san itself contains over 50 temples, and is where the founder of the Shingon Buddhist sect, Kobo Daishi, is in "eternal meditation". You climb a hill through an enormous graveyard up to his mausoleum at the top - I'm not a Buddhist, and so I don't pray at the temples (it would feel like I was taking it too lightly), but it's impossible to remain unmoved. It doesn't feel touristy or showy, like a lot of temples do - the visitors are mainly genuine pilgrims, who chant and pray at the temples and tombs. You can't have anything but respect.
There's also a museum in the town, and a precinct of other holy buildings, with absolutely loads of amazing Buddhist works of art. Going into the big pagoda, the monk there gave everyone some brown, incense-like powder to rub into their hands, and there's burning incense everywhere - I love the smell, I hope it's still on me a bit!
(Oh yes, and the day before, I had another day in Nara, and I went to a couple more temples there too, cos it was a gorgeous sunny day. Yeah, I know I go to a lot of temples, but I haven't got bored of them yet! I love the statues and art and history and atmosphere and chanting and incense and shiny gold things!)
I met an anime fan in the temple too. XD (He was on a tour that sounded like the one you came on,
aicha!) You meet people in the weirdest places, don't you... ^^' I've met a few now - all guys so far, which reduces the chances of corrupting them with other I set off from Koya-san about 1pm today, and finally made it to Yokohama (I keep typoing it as "Yokoyama" ^^') about... 8. XD Well, it was before 8, but there's always a certain amount of faffing around while you come out of the station, realise you came out of the wrong exit, realise you got off at a station you didn't mean to get off at, buy another ticket, get back on the train etc etc, but I finally got into a hotel about 8.30. (I asked how much; the woman said "7-something something" and I was like "YES", I was so relieved to find anywhere! XD) It seems pretty nice too - massive hotel, small room, but ensuite and with a nice little goodie bag. :D Here for 2 nights - meeting
honeybeanlove tomorrow!! Then on to Nagano. ...Oh crap, need to get that booked. Oh! And yeah, it was something that had gone wrong with my laptop, though I don't know what - I just rolled it back to a couple of weeks ago. :/ I suspect Firefox, actually, because it's lost all my bookmarks and has been acting really weird, like not letting me read my mail and opening loads of empty tabs. o.o Oh well, at least it's working again! *cling* (Hmm, feels weird adding that to an entry that started so reverentially, but well, it's all part of the journey, I guess...)Fandom post to follow - will filter, as I don't wanna bore/freak out the non-fandom folks. ^^'
Oh! Yeah, Snaps Cup Love Meme thing! Everyone likes having nice things said about them! ;D