Koya

We left Nara and headed to Mount Koya. The headquarters of the Shingon sect of Buddhism founded by the famous (at least in Japan) Kobo Daishi, or Kukai, there are over 100 temples on the mountain.

After the stifling heat and humidity of summertime Kyoto the cool air at the top of the cable car ride was a welcome relief. We walked up to the temple we were staying at for the night, checked in and wandered out to see a few of the sights. It looked like it was about to rain, so an older priest insisted we take a couple of umbrellas, which pretty much guaranteed us good weather. 

We wandered around a bunch of temples, cameras in hand (or on L’s gorillapod. I got a gorilla pod for Christmas, and while I haven’t had the time to use it much yet, it’s really cool.) until dinner time. Dinner was the traditional shojin ryori, or temple cooking. Basically it’s the original strict Buddhist vegetarian cuisine, which prohibits animal products, as well as garlic, and some other spices. When done well, the flavours and tastes of the actual vegetables (chosen according to the season) should be carefully emphasized. It was a very delicious meal, and even felt relatively filling!

On the subject of Buddhism, and the associated perception of asceticism, I have to tell you about some of the temple’s toilets. I’ve seen many fancy toilets in Japan – hotels, department stores and restaurants often have them, with multiple wash/warming function, automatic lid opener/closer, and who knows what else. However, these were the first toilets I’d seen with built-in hot-air dryers. Worked pretty well, too.