Koyasan
|
 Slideshow Google Map Comments (0) |
|
The center of Shingon Buddhism, Esoteric Buddhism, in Japan. A Buddhist sect which was introduced to Japan in 805 by the Japanese monk Kukai, know as Kobo Daishi. Not my favorite Buddhist mountain! It is mainly a rather morbid cemetary, by far Japan's largest, where supplicants pay annual fees to keep lanterns burning over the ashes of their loved ones in a large hall. There the ashes wait for Kobo Daishi to rise from his grave and escort them to the Pure Land of the Western Paradise. Perhaps the world's largest funeral home. For entertaining reading try Kyoka Izumi's 高野聖 The Saint of Mt. Koya, first published in Japan in 1900, translated by Stephen W. Kohl one hundred years later in 1990. Published by 金沢市美術印刷株式会社 in 1990. |