April 20

We are spending the day at Koyasan, returning to where we began our journey of the 88 Pilgrimage Route. We boarded the local train at 6:47am and we were off. It was a local train which meant we had a lot of stops. Different groups of schools age students were boarding with a variety of uniforms. It is so true that there is little to no talking on the trains. Even the school age students spoke little, mainly they were looking at their phones. Upon arriving to Hashimoto we got off our train, bought tickets and boarded the train going to the Cable Car which would take us to Koysan. We felt like pros unlike the amateur status we felt the first time we tried it. We were here 2 months ago and there were not many people. Today the train is crowded and when we arrived to the Cable Car we decided to put on our masks. One gets packed in on the cable car.

In Feb. There were only about 8 people in our car. Today it was full capacity.

After getting off the Cable Car we boarded a bus to take us to the Okunoin, From here we would walk to the Kobo Daishi Mausoleum,

It was a beautiful day with Spring being in the air. Since Koyasan sits at a higher elevation the cherry blossoms are peaking.

Once again we walk by the old memorials as well as the new. As we approach the mausoleum a large group of Pilgrims are coming down the stairs.

We thought we would get the final calligraphy and stamp in our book here, but when we asked we were told we needed to go to the main Temple, Kongobuji. Before heading there we decide to say goodby to our staff and return it to the Koyasn
Guest House.

We are going to miss it. Walking to the Guest House.

When we got to the guest house, the owner was outside and remembered us from Feb. We gave him the staff and so we will see if the staff makes another journey.

As we started heading back to the main temple we passed several cherry trees that always gives us the wow feeling.

A restaurant that we had eaten before was open. It was time for lunch so we tried their speciality of the day Kobe Beef.It was delicious. It is run by just one woman who was so fun to watch as she created our meal.

Next door was the ice cream shop with spice toppings so that was the finish to a great meal.

When we arrived to the Main Temple, it seemed to have a festive feeling.

Two people were dressed up in animal costumes.

At the office we were told that the stamp that we wanted for our book is actually back at the Okunion that we had just come from. They could sign our book, but not where the last stamp was supposed to go.

Leaving the temple and heading back to the Okunion, As we were leaving this temple we met the couple riding the tandem bikefrom Italy that we had met visiting one of the temples. The weather was turning rainy so they were unsure of where they would go next. Finally we found the right office and looking on with big smiles we got the last page of our nokyocho (pilgrim book) signed. Our pilgrimage feels complete.

From our previous visit, we knew the routine to return to Wakayama. We left Koyasan around 2 and were back to the city by 4:30. We needed to buy tickets for our train ride to Osaka tomorrow so we went to the ticket office. There was a long line and we were impressed by the patience of the people in line as well as the clerks. Everyone was respectful even though the line was moving slow. A woman behind us became animated when she realized that we had just completed the Pilgrimage on Shikoku. She knew a couple English words, but unfortunately we were clueless about what she was saying. as she began taking rapidly in Japanese. She gave us a bag of candy and we gave her sticker which seemed to make her day. Tickets purchased we headed to the basement of a mall that was loaded with food choices. Everything looked so good so we loaded up with several options and then headed back to the hotel to map out our last days in Japan.

Accommadation : Wakayama Comfort Hotel

Walking around Koyasan and Wakayama