Koyasan is a large village built by Buddhist monks over 1200 years ago. There are about 200 temples in the area, as well as a huge cemetery.
We did the night cemetery tour which was big on walking but a bit light on detail. There are over 300,000 burials in the cemetery. For us the big attraction was the enormous Cedar trees all through the area. Some are over 600 years old.
The first night we stayed in a temple. All the staff are monks. You get to eat the same food as the monks and attend the ceremonies. It’s all a bit (actually a lot) expensive. I guess if you were a believer it might be worth it.
Koyasan is also home to Kongobuji temple which has the largest rock garden in Japan. Pauline loves Japanese rock gardens (so do I) so we spent a long time there.
The second night in Koyasan we stayed in a Japanese capsule hotel. You get your own small capsule for the night. I actually like it, much better than a dorm in a backpackers! The food was fantastic as well 😋.
