Today marks the beginning of Golden Week, next Monday there is no school and Thursday and Friday are national holidays. This a time when Japanese can start enjoying the nice weather and go on small trips in Japan. Most of the traveling is done on the long 4 day weekend, but because we have school off on Monday, so I planned a small trip with three friends in Wakayama, the southern most area of the Kansai region, and the last area of the Kansai region that I have not yet visited. I also tried to arrange a trip in Kyuushuu for the second portion (4 day weekend) of golden week, but that was not possible because all hotels were already booked and the traveling price was pretty steep.
Our first stop in Wakayama proved to be an inspirational and spritual journey at the top of Kouyasan, the center of the Esoteric Shingon school of Buddhism in Japan. This was a special place with nice surprises.
Not even 10 minutes after our arrival, an aged man with good English skills proposed to give us a tour of the main points of Kouyasan and became our defacto tour guide. He said he was a volunteer tour guide and learning the history and important facts of every location to be able to give good tours. This was a very kind gesture of pure generosity that we often encounter in Japan.
The first location we visited was a small living quarter for monks and one woman monk felt bad there was no information available in English and she referred to us as "Gaijin-san" (Mr. Gaijin), that was the first time we had heard that, we thought it was quite funny. We had a nice treat at this place, as we were allowed to go in an enclosed room that is usually closed-off from general public but that day marked an important date where the doors were kept open. This room was special as it displayed the images of gods and descendants of the founders of the place, but it also felt special to be allowed to be inside. The room was dark and the smell of incense made the experience even more special. There was a feeling of serenity and I could feel my body and my mind relax while the monk was explaining the room, the statues and rites. This site was not an important site to visit (not on tourist maps) but it was worthwhile stopping by, just out of curiosity.
Next we walked down a 2km path that goes through an imposing cemetery that had interesting tombs, statues and stupas. There was also a big sculpture to commemorate the deaths of the kamikaze during the Second World War, but it didn't seem to have its place in this cemetery. There were also navel Japanese flags that symbolize the military strength of Japan during the Second World War. Obviously, a part of Japan has not come to terms with the post-war identity and direction of the country.
At the end of the path there is a temple that marks the end of a pilgrimage (and there were many pilgrims). Kouyasan is one end of a path called the Path of History that goes through 5 provinces and can take weeks to accomplish. Inside the temple there were monks chanting prayers and ringing a small bell at the end of each prayer.
On our way back we saw another piece of landscaping that really seemed out of place (see pictures) but we were not surprised because up to this point we have seen all sorts of strange things in Japan.
Before we left we visited a boutique with incredibly high prices for various items, mainly dealing with Buddhism. One of my friends was interested in buying incense and when the store clerks saw that they started filling our hands with boxes and boxes of incense saying "Doozu, doozu" roughly translated to: please, be my guest... and when we understood they were actually giving out all that incense, we felt really bad. To make me feel better I bought two pairs of chopsticks with the name KOUYASAN engraved on them.
We left the place around 4 PM satisfied that we had came to this remote place of Wakayama where many go to seek answers, and where we experienced the more religious side of Japan.
The remainder of the day was spent traveling to the small city of KII-TANABE (5000 inhabitants). Many mishaps happened on our way there. First, at the first exchange, in Wakayama city, we decided to stop by at a Lotteria (Japanese fast food store) but by doing so missed our transfer train. Because of the low frequency in local transport, we had lots of time on our hands so we walked in all four corners of Wakayama city in 1 hour. There was nothing much to see and around 8 PM the city was already dead! The only action came from an aspiring pop artist on his guitar at the train station. The next mishap came from the fact we then waited for our train on the wrong platform and missed it! We actually hurried and got in another train, thinking it was the right one, but after questioning the on board staff, told us this train stopped 15 stations before ours! We were very fortunate to be able to catch up with our missed train and transfer at the terminal. We eventually arrived at KII-TANABE at 11PM when we told the hostel owner we would arrive a 6PM. We never thought we could arrive in KII-TANABE, we were planning on sleeping the night out or in a Karaoke box stuck in the middle of nowhere when we had taken the wrong train. To add to the complications, we got lost on our way walking to the hostel so I called them and the owner came and greeted us on his scooter. The next hour I spent discussing with the owner about our travel plans in Wakayama and how we could minimize travel time and expenses (we found out it was difficult to get around in Wakayama) and by midnight we were sound asleep in our futons in a pretty cosy, comfortable and friendly place (for 30$ a night).
