Mom and Koya

Mom and I spent a day at Mt. Koya, a famous national heritage spot near our home. It takes about 40 minutes to drive up the mountain, at the top of which are many temples, shrines, and a famous cemetery. About 1000 years ago a Buddhist monk moved there and established his own religion, around which the area grew and prospered. In my town there are many who still follow the religion, and it is still a thriving little Buddhist retreat, full of history and the spirits of the ancients.

Enjoy the photos from our trip up there!

A gravestone dedicated to Navy deaths.

In front of the entrance to one of the more famous shrines there.

Some of the oldest gravestones around, so covered in moss you could hardly see them.

Here's the entrance to the main shrine we visited. Koya is especially beautiful at this time of the year when the maple leaves are turning red and orange, my favorite time to visit.

Some of the little jizo all dressed up in their aprons. It seemed they recently got new clothes cause all the aprons looked in pretty good condition.

An ancient family final resting place, some of these were so old they were roped off due to gravestones falling over, making it dangerous to go near.

A procession of monks in training for priesthood.

Some senior monks in their normal attire.

Mom reading one of the signs. Sometimes it was easier to read the Japanese signs and try to translate them then to try and translate the English signs.

Mom and the Bebe..

Washing her hands in some holy water..

We bought an obento on the way up, and decided to eat at this bench, grandma fed the bebe for me..

But about 5 minutes after sitting down we were besieged by a group of tourists who had come from Kyoto. They decided to take their smoking break right in front of us, sort of ruining our lunch time.A particularly beautiful walkway surrounded by koya-trees, or momiji, not exactly sure which.

Mom and the bebe under the lovely trees.

We found this little god-statue stuck in the rocks, with a small tin bowl at its feet for donations.

Mom checking out some gravestones. She was very impressed with the feel of age at the cemetery.

The lake below is full of big fat ugly koi, they were fun to toss bread crumbs at.

Jordan having a breather on the mossy grass.

Mom went off to look at some gravestones, and was gone so long I started to worry that she'd gotten lost, or snatched, or something--you know how it is with graves and cemeteries and disappearing people, but she finally came back, phew! What would I have told Dave??

And so we ended our lovely day up in the mountains, and came home to have dinner with some of my friends who live in the area.