Mount Koya (Koyasan) Trips & Tours

Arriving in Koyasan (Mount Koya) feels a little like stepping through a portal into another, mystical world. The doors to the cable car open to a forested plateau, 800 metres up in the mountains of Wakayama, where over 100 temples have kept the flame of Shingon Buddhism burning since 816, and where monks still rise before dawn to chant sutras by candle light. Stay overnight in a temple lodging and you're invited to join them, shuffling into morning prayers while the mist curls and plumes through the cedars outside. By day, wander the moss-covered paths of Okunoin, Japan's largest cemetery, where 200,000 tombstones lead to the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi – believed by devotees to be not dead, but simply still meditating. Come evening, sit cross-legged before a tray of shojin ryori, the iconic vegetarian dish of the region. And for afters, it’s all about the silken goma-dofu – a custard-like creation of ground sesame and kudzu starch – that is reason enough to make the journey.