Up a mountain. Check. Near a big cemetery in a forest where the trees are between 200 and 600 years old. Check. The most sacred place in Japan. Check. Living with monks. Check. Eating vegan food. Check. Being woke up for a 6.30am morning service followed by much burning of sticks and banging of drums. Check.
You visit Koyasan to experience all these things, and it doesn’t disappoint. Our accommodation, in the guest quarters of the Ekoin Temple, was simple – just a room (two in our case) and a toilet, shared shower and baths. However, it’s been well kept and is probably one of the tidiest traditional locations we’ve stayed in.
Food is interesting. Actually, it’s not. Sorry, but it really is very plain and uninspiring, unless you’re into pickles, unidentifiable vegetables and rice. And there’s not enough. It’s just not to western tastes I guess.
But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t an amazing place to stay. It was, and we knew what we might be expecting. There’s a convenience store the other end of town, a brilliant local restaurant selling amazing katsu on the main crossroads, another local place selling udon dishes nearby and a little cafe directly opposite Ekoin. Use these to supplement meagre monk rations and it’s all good!!
The monks were incredibly friendly, though rubbish timekeepers. To say they have a set routine every day is a bit of an exaggeration…. It’s tough timings, meaning one day we were taken to breakfast 50 minutes late. That’s more than 2 hours after being woken for morning service. Oh well!