okuno-in, koya-san and some other randoms

besides kongo-buji, the other big draw of koya-san is okuno-in, the mausoleum or graveyard.

apparently buddhists aim to have their remains buried there, and many of the plots have been bought up by corporations, somewhat like a company plot for the presidents of the companies and so on.

this below is apparently a memorial erected by a pest company, to atone for killing all those pests.

the entrance of okuno-in:

some of the signs there are really old and have toppled:

these rounded things were a common sight:

i didnt find okuno-in creepy at all, partly because there were 3 of us there in the day, but also because it’s actually a rather open area. you can see the sky and the trees dont form a roof over you.

a sign asking you not to litter:

the panasonic company plot:

the grave of oda nobunaga, a very significant person in japanese history. we were disappointed that it was so nondescript.

the japanese like to stick coins in stuff, and this is a really good example of their obsession:

this, i believe, is a memorial for a photographic association. it’s crazy:

here’s another crazy memorial:

  

after okuno-in, we headed to the mausolea of the tokugawas. the family was extremely influential, and we expected something grand and big and impressive:

that was all there is, and i snuck a shot through the fence:

what an utter letdown!

to end off, here’s a picture of the most unattractive plastic food display that i’ve ever seen in japan – mouldy curry spaghetti:

jimyo-in, koya san

i just realised that i have yet to post up lots of photos from koya-san, and since i havent much to post on singapore (all i’ve been doing is eat and shop and eat and shop non-stop), i might as well get down to it as koya-san is very pretty.

like i’d briefly blogged here, i stayed in Jimyo-in when on the mountain. We learned from the owner of a coffee shop that temples on the mountain have a ranking system and the lines on its walls are an indication of how good the lodgings are.

the above temple, for example, has only 3 white lines. this means that it’s only a so-so temple. Jimyo-in had 5 lines, and the guy seemed quite impressed when we told him that we were staying there. and we managed to stay in there because when booking through the tourist information office, my friend asked for a good temple. well done J :)

jimyo-in is gorgeous on the inside, and the rooms are big:

i really liked the paintings, and didnt really expect a tv in the room.

the kotatsu was amazing too, and there’s a safe below the tv.

in typical japanese style, we received tea and a small red-bean filled cake upon our arrival.

dinner was sumptuous. i was surprised when the server came in bearing so many trays for the 3 of us:

each person had 2 trays:

we ordered sake too, as you can see above. there also is tofu, vegetable tempura, miso soup and a tasty wild vege and mushroom dish.

below is another wakayama tofu cubes – they’re sweet and full of soup – picked cucumber with vermicelli and a type of melon with mushrooms in the covered dish. dessert was sweetened persimmons.

some after-dinner relax-time shots:

breakfast was a simpler affair:

the round thing is tofu – wakayama is famous for it – soy beans with seasoned seaweed, miso soup with bean curd strips and vegetables with mushrooms.

danjo garan and daimon, koya-san

daimon is a huge gate that is supposedly something like the entrance to koya-san, whlie danjo garan is this section near kongo-buji with temple buildings and bells. this post will just have lots of pictures..

autumn had arrived in early october on koya-san, and it was beautiful

to the right, you can see a pilgrim – we spotted quite a few on koya-san.

i like the look of the trees..

so bright still, yet the lanterns are lit! they were all electrical, by the way..

this was funny – free rice paddles :P

shop selling homemade mochi. the grandson was about junior high school age, and we tried talking to him in english but he was too shy to say anything. haha.

we came to the daimon, which wasnt as big as its name suggested:

i was definitely more impressed by the size of the spotlight that lights it up at night: