First settled in 816 by the monk Kukai as a retreat far away from the courtly intrigues of Kyoto, the monastery is located in a high valley amid 8 mountain peaks. The original monastery has grown into the town of Koya, featuring a university dedicated to religious studies and over 100 temples, many of which offer lodging to pilgrims. Primarily known as the headquarters of the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism, in 2004, UNESCO designated Mt. Koya as a World Heritage Site.
About half of the temples in town offer lodging and meals for pilgrims, known as shukubo in Japanese. Guests are given the opportunity to join in the morning prayer session, a hypnotic experience involving sutra chanting, incense and gongs. All temple lodgings on Mt. Koya offer shojin ryori, purely vegetarian food intended for monks. People who equate vegetarian food with blandness will be surprised - in their hundreds of years of experience with vegetarian cooking, the monks have invented amazingly tasty dishes.
To the east of town is Oku-no-In, the mausoleum of Kukai, lit by thousands of lanterns. According to tradition, the lights have been lit since Kukai's death over 1000 years ago. The mausoleum is surrounded by an atmospheric and immense graveyard, set among giant cedar trees with winding paths throughput. Particularly interesting are the many fanciful gravestones, including giant spaceships and cups erected respectively by an astronautical and coffee company, and a monument erected by a pesticide company to commemorate all its insect victims.
The mountain is also home to a few impressive temple gardens. Kongobu-ji Temple is the sprawling yet atmospheric headquarters of the Shingon sect, with a stone garden that outclasses many of Kyoto's best.
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