Throughout my travels around Japan, I had seen countless temples and shrines of various shape and size, dedicated to various people or gods with reference to Shinto and various sects of Buddhism. I felt i had to clarify these issues before I leave Japan as the religion seemed to play such an important part in Japanese history and culture.
In order to unravel the mysteries of Japanese religion, my last Japanese adventure before returning to Tokyo would be to Mount Koya or Koya-San, one of the most sacred places in Japan. Founded by Kobo Daishi, a revered Buddhist priest responsible for establishing Shingon Buddhist (Esoteric Bhuddism) in Japan in the 800s, Koyasan was established as the main school of Shingon Buddhism in Japan. The best way to gain access to Buddhist monks in Koyasan is to spend a day in one of the temple accomodations, so I went straight to the tourist center to find a suitable vacancy. The temple lodge I stayed at, Eko-in, was much more lavish than I expected with beautiful tradional Japanese Tatami rooms, (it would have had to have been at the price I paid). The very friendly young monks all spoke English and I was duely invited by one particularly well-spoken monk to join his tour of the Koyasan Bhuddist cemetary that evening. I immediately signed up as that would be my chance to have all my questions answered.
In the meantime I casually walked around Koyasan for a few hours before dinner at 17:30, taking in the views of yet more beutiful Japanese Temples.
When I returned to the lodge at 17:30, I promptly received a phone call asking whether it's ok to bring me my dinner which was immediately delivered by one of the monks in intricate Japanese utensils. The two trays of vegetarian food presented to me were simply a feast for the eyes and the food tasted as good as it looked. It was yet another example of outstanding Japanese cuisine.
After dinner the guests congregated at the entrance for the trip to the cemetary and, fittingly, we set off just as it was getting dark. Okunoin Cemetary is the most sacred and famous cemetary in Japan, primarily because the great Kobo Daishi is buried there, and many wealthy Japanese pay small fortunes to be interned near to him. Along the way we stopped at various points with our young guide explaining to us about Buddhist burial and images and pointing out the graves of important individuals, one of whom was the ex-CEO of Panasonic, at which point I asked if there was anything i could do to get my Panasonic camera working again. Our young guide just laughed.
Along the way I asked as many questions as I could about the differences between shrines and temples and Shinto and the various forms of Bhuddism; it was all becoming a lot clearer. After walking for 45 minutes or so through this vast forest cemetary in the dark, we reached the tomb of Koba Daishi, who the monks believe is still alive meditating in his tomb. We stood in silence while our guide chanted a matra for ten minutes or so before heading back to the lodge.
I learned that Shinto, Japans original religion is based on nature and has thousands of deities each of which represents different aspects of nature, for example, the wind, trees, water etc. Shrines are dedicated to one of these Shinto gods and can be identified by a simple gates with two horizontal beams at the top which can be seen all over Japan. Praying at a shrine involves first cleansing ones face and hands at a font, then ringing a bell and the shrine, throwing some money into a box, bowing, clapping the hands twice, saying a prayer while holding the hands together before bowing again.
Temples on the other hand are dedicated to the Bhudda, and exist for the purpose of teaching Bhuddism which explains why there are often so many close together. They have bigger, more lavish gates with doors at the entrace, and inside contain the familiar images of the The Bhudda. The word Bhudda is also used to refer to Bhuddist saints, once living Bhuddists whoes images can also be seen in temples and cemetaries.
Buddhist and Shintoism are merged in Japan and most people practise both in some way. This was evident in the cemetary where example of Bhuddist graves where marked with Shinto gates. As for the different forms of Bhuddism, the basic difference between Shingon Bhuddism and the other is that with Shingon, enlightenment can be reached now through meditation, much like with the Bhudda himself, whereas the other sects believe that enlightment can only be achieved in death. The other thing that distinguishes Shingon monks from other Bhuddist monks in Japan and elsewhere is that they can marry and occasionaly eat meat and fish; sounds like an easier life than I thought. My questions had been answered!
The next morning all the guests woke up for two rounds of meditation and prayer, which mainly consisted of sitting on temple floors meditating while the monks recited matras repetitively with drums, and burned insence. I can't admit to finding enlightenment but it certainly was relaxing in some way. The next morning I left Koyasan after another fantastic vegetarian meal, satisfied in the knowlege I had gained about this important part of Japanese life.
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