Saturday, September 26

I woke up very early this morning and hurriedly prepared for the group trip to Koya-san (Mount Koya) that took place this past weekend. All forty-five exchange students as well as a few staff members met outside a train station near Konan University, and from there we took the train to Koya-san, which is located in Wakayama Prefecture right next to Hyogo Prefecture (in which I live). We took several trains, including three transfers, to get to Mount Koya's base. From there we rode a cable car up the very steep mountainside. We then took taxis to the Buddhist sanctuary at which we stayed during the weekend.

The air was refreshing and cool. It was not crowded, and it was such a different setting from the busy urban area in which we live. The group sat down in a tatami (bamboo mat) room, drank tea and ate a sweet bean paste cake called manju, and we then listened to a brief description of the sanctuary's history. Afterward we went to a mausoleum for the monk Kuukai (who founded the Mount Koya sanctuary) and the surrounding Okunoin graveyard area near the mausoleum where many famous people are buried.

We ate only vegetarian food while at Koya-san, and I found it all absolutely delicious. We slept on futon in tatami covered rooms with thin, sliding doors through which you really could hear any sound. I took a lovely walk after dinner with a few friends and went to sleep by 10:30 that evening.