From Koyasan to Kotohira

The old light tower, a photo by dtk_guy on Flickr.

This light tower was one of the few sights I was able to take in at Kotohira. We had arrived there mid-afternoon just about half an hour or so before check-in time at our hotel. It had been a long haul from Koyasan to Kotohira so only Mr. Nomura and I took the time to walk around and check out the town. Amongst other things we found a dusky old store selling ceramics and pottery and a similarly dusky old hobby shop run by an elderly couple. The hobby shop was a throw back to the shop I had frequented when I lived in Hiyoshi in my junior high school days. It wasn't large by any stretch of the imagination but it was filled with the kinds of things that once captivated young minds. A sign of a slow down in business was the fact that they didn't stock adhesives. There isn't enough demand to warrant stocking it as their stock would dry out on the shelf. So they only bring it in on special order from their suppliers in Osaka.

The highlight of the day was the journey to Kotohira and the morning services at Ekoin. We took in morning sutra reading in the Hondo of Ekoin and then stepped outside to wander up to a nearby shrine dedicated to Bishamonten, the Japanese Buddhist god of war. Their we observed a service which involved a chanting of sutras and the burning of oils and incense over flames. For me this was a truly unique experience as it was my first experience to Shingon sect rituals and proceedings.

There's one thing I saw on our trip to and from Koyasan which I found a touch odd and perhaps even a bit disturbing: palm trees. You don't see palm trees in the Tohoku region and I don't recall seeing them much elsewhere. But there they were popping up all over the place along the Nankai train route up to Koyasan. I was starting to get the feeling they were an invasive species. Perhaps they are indigenous but I highly doubt that. Anyways, I certainly wasn't expecting to see palm trees as I headed into the mountains of Wakayama.