2 days in Koya-san

Some times ago, I wrote about the shukubo in Koya-san.

If sharing my experience made you curious, if you like visiting temples and historical sites, this entry is for you.

Koya-san is a small town, you could visit it in 2 days if you rush a bit...
But why rushing in such place? This is the opportunity to escape from the stress of the city, enjoy something more spiritual, return from there with a peaceful mind.
I will give some info/tips, write a large resume of what you can do and see there, and for some areas, it will be worth to write a new entry later.

My suggestion: Take your time, spend at least 1 night and visit on 2 days.

To go from Osaka to Koya-san, I bought the special ticket (Koyasan World heritage ticket) at the Osaka station: 2860yen or 3400yen for the limited express train, you can also find it in other station on the Nankai Railway.
If you plan to stay more than 1 night, then check other options at the info desk in Osaka etc. ;)
I didn't take the limited express as the travel time difference wasn't so huge and tried to save a bit at the end of my trip.
The "pack" includes your way to go and return (2 days) + 2 days bus unlimited at Koya-san + discounts to enter some areas.
The total travel time with the train + cable car from Namba station is a bit less than 2 hours. It seems long, but you will transfer once or twice and some views on the road are really nice.


If you want to skip the bus and walk only, maybe it's possible between the cable station and Koya center, but it's quite long and probably not a good idea if you have a baggage. At least for the 1st time and/or in the summer I wouldn't recommend you this ;)
Better to take the bus especially if you have the unlimited pass.

So, after the check-in at Sekishoin, I went for a visit in the town.
In fact, there is 1 main road in the center surrounded by little streets, impossible to get lost there.
One side going to Okuni cemetery, the other site splitted in 2 parts, 1 going to the Daimon gate , the other to the entrance of Koyasan.

Let's then start from 1 side of the road. Be careful, the bus time table is not precise, also bit difficult to know which bus is coming when.
I skipped the bus as it passed already. I went by foot to "Nyonindo - 女人堂". This one caught my attention as it's a Temple builded for the Buddhist women. Not a regular thing to see.
There I collected a "goshuin" and a "omikuji".


I took the bus for few stops to visit more temples, trying to use the pass to make it worth hehe.
While walking you notice that, indeed, there are lot of temples and many shukubo.
I realized that you can recognize them with the board place at the entrace representing a funny character (monk). And if I'm not wrong, all temple's names ending by "...in" seem to offer shukubo.

I saw so much temples there that I can't put them all here. To be honest, sometimes I really had no idea if I could enter some of them or not ^^;
If you like to see pagodas, you will not be disappointed. There is a bunch of them all around, each is different. Some are extremely old some are rather new.

After the walk around, I went to a little shop selling "goma dofu". This is a local speciality, I found their address on the net:  Hamadaya - 濱田屋
I never tried goma dofu before, I thought I could buy a little piece to eat on-site, but you can only buy a pack to bring home. The size was too big for me, and as it's fresh, impossible to store it without having a fridge.
Lucky me!!! The day of my visit was the 21st August, it was a special day (can't remember the name), and that day, they offer goma dofu to visitors. I could choose between sweet or salted. So I tried the sweet version, which comes with brown sugar. I explain more about it in the post Shukubo.

After the dinner, I went for a night walk. It was really quite in the evening, all shops are closed early. If you are searching for bars, parties etc, forget it. There is nothing special to do in the night in Koyasan. Just be careful while walking on the main road, the cars are driving really fast, especially when you go a bit further.
It's a pity that I saw only the day after that there were some night visits organized by temples in the old graveyard etc.
But the walk was worth, got some nice pictures, and you can see the stars! No pollution, no light pollution...

The day after I continued my visits.
Almost forgot that I had some discounts to enter some areas.
Tokugawa Mausoleum is not a big place, but it's part of the history. And if you collect goshuin, you can get a really nice one there too.







When I arrived, there were only few old ladies sitting together to have a chat and 2 other tourists. This place is a bit hidden, this is probably why not many people were coming there.
I noticed it on the map when I prepared my trip and saw the little board the day before when passing to reach the 1st temple at the entry of Koyasan.
Beside the historical part, the 2 buildings there are really gorgeous. Wood and gold, so much details in the carving and decorations.
The place is quite small though, the distance to get some large plans photos is really tight. The panorama setting is needed to get a photo of the mausoleum.
The fee to enter is only 200yen.
After the Tokugawa Mausoleum, I decided to go to the Daimon gate, the typical big red gate with the guardians's statues. The area from there is quite big, so schedule enough time if you want to visit everything. To get a full photo of the gate, you have to cross the road, just be careful, people are driving quite fast. From there, pass the gate and go down. You will pass many temples and pagodas.
I took hundreds of photos. I will simply add more of them at the bottom of this blog.

To be honest, the walk and heat made me feel a bit saturated and didn't shoot everything. Seeing all in 1 day is bit too much, especially that at that moment I was nearly at the end of my trip in Japan and had loads of Km, visits and tiredness accumulated.

From that moment, I shooted less and watch more with my eyes. Just wandering in the traditional site surrounded by nature.
It's funny to see how people are reacting when you start shooting something that might look normal for them. They would pass many times without stopping and because I started shooting some "momiji" leaves, they started doing the same hehe.
Continuing my path, step by step reaching more places that are recommended spots, such as Chumon, Kongobuji etc.
After that I needed to get some food. As usual, the lunch time was passed and it was quite hard to find a place to eat something not too expensive.
I managed to get a curry, not what I really wanted, but my budget was so tight that I had not so much choice.

After the stomac refilled, I can visit the last spot... and it was more big and more interesting than I thought. In my opinion the spot that let people speachless...
The Okunoin cemetery followed by the Okunoin temple.
As this post is already consequent and I have plenty to say about Okunoin, I will keep that story for another entry ;)

During these 2 days, I could have collected all goshuin, but then my budget would have exploded! There is more than one hundred temples in Koyasan, like that you have an idea ;)
I saw now also that I missed many spots, even little shrines. But let's be honest, 1 day is really not enough. And in another way, I don't regret to have taken quiet time the day before at Sekishoin.

After all these visits, I went back to Sekishoin to get my suitcase and leave for the bus station. The sunset arrived and the road to go back to Osaka was long. More than 2 hours travel as I was staying in Higashi-Osaka.

Koyasan is mostly inhabited by Monks. They married and had children since generations, the town infrastructure was built atound the Budhist temples (school, university, shops, hospital,...

Koyasan didn't get the label World Heritage randomly. I will let you enjoying below some more photos and a little anecdote that happened to me on the way for Koyasan.

Okunoin cemetery

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Little extra story. When I was already on the way, even nearly at Koya station, I realized that I forgot to take extra cash money. I totally froze on my seat... Impossible to go back, my return ticket was for the day after.
After the accomodation paid, I had 300 yen left, means less than 3€ for the 2 days.
My credit card (pre-paid) balance was less than 5000yen, impossible to withdraw cash under this amount.
This trip sounded like a big fail...
But, I managed to convince a shop to get 2000yen in extra with a little purchase (snacks to survive), a little fee added of course.
Then, I was so lucky to get the help of a woman (I won't say whom, to keep privacy), who offered me 3000yen to refund when I go back in Osaka. What I did immediately. She didn't know me, she trusted me... Thanks to her kindness.
There was an angel watching over me!
This teached me to be careful of the expenses, select wise, get less goshuin and no souvenirs (pity), ... and enjoy more the essential.
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Edit: a bit more image added.
Maps and tickets

The advert recieved at the station, they have it in different languages.
Then, the coupons with discounts that you receive with your bus/train tickets.

Map of Koyasan recieved at the bus station.

Tokugawa Mausoleum ticket

Simplified map