Hello 日本

From July 30th until August 1st, I went with Amy to an English Camp. The camp was in Wakayama Prefecture, on Mount Koya. Mount Koya is OVERFLOWING with temples, and it`s the starting point of the 88 Temple pilgrimmage.

We all met at Sakaihigashi station. It was me, Amy, and two other gaijin, Momo (Melissa) from California, and Ashi (Ashton) from Australia. There were a bunch of girls from Tezukayama. They actually go to the all girls version of my school.

We took the train to the bottom of mount Koya, and from there we had to take a cable car for 5 minutes to get to the top. It was slightly scary for me, who`s afraid of heights, as the car went STRAIGHT up. But I made it all in one piece.

We exited the small Koyasan station, and took a bus down the winding mountain roads until we reached our temple inn, Chizuin. Yes, we stayed in a temple. The temples on Koyasan offer rooms, especially for the pilgrims who are doing the 88 temple route.

At the entrance, we were provided with red slippers to wear inside. We gathered in the tatami meeting room and had a short opening ceremony. Then, we were shown to our rooms, which were down the hallway and upstairs. Our rooms were made of tatami. The girls changed out of their school uniforms and then we went back downstairs for lunch.

Because they`re buddhist, the monks don`t eat meat or fish of any kind. The buddhist food is called shoujinryouri. Actually, most of the girls didn`t really like the food. It`s basically vegetables and tofu, but not many people get to try the real thing, and it`s often expensive, so it was a good experience.

After lunch, we set out on a walk. We went to the middle gate, the great stuupa, and saw Kukai`s first temple, which is the starting place of the 88 temple route. At the temple, we saw a bunch of monks. It was pretty cool. From the temple, we walked to Okunoin Cemetery. It was a BEAUTIFUL cemetery, which was basially a forest FILLED with stone lanterns, stone torii gates, graves, memorials, etc. Everything was bathed ina  soft light that filtered through the forest trees and the moss was a vibrant green on the trees and stone. It was really beautiful. And massive. If there had been more pathes, we would`ve gotten lost! The walk ended at a building where you burn incense and pray. You basically take a stick of incense, light it in the fire, and stick it into a giant bowl of ashes. Then you blow the fumes toward your face with both hands. It`s to purify and make you smart. Then, you pray. This is either done by throwing a coin into a box and clapping your hands, or ringing a bell and clapping your hands, or just clapping your hands. At the end, you bow to thank the spirits. You clap your hands twice at the beginning, to call the spirits to your wish.

There was also a long line of statues, which you were supposed to go along, throwing water on each one. It was really funny when one of the girls threw the water on the teacher instead!

Next, we crossed a bridge to go to Kukai`s tomb. It was an incredible building, with incense so thick you could see it coming out of the doors. Inside was dark, and there was a monk chanting a sutra. On the cieling were hundreds of orange glowing lanterns. It was quite something, although the incense made it hard to breath. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed. After the tomb, we took a bus back to the temple.

We had a short break, and then at 5pm it was bath time. Yes, that meant naked baths. It was kind of awkward to do it with white people, but we all survived. After washing, we went into the bath, where I almost passed out because it was so hot!

Next was dinner, which was more vegetarian food. It`s so hard to eat it all! The meals are huge and not very delicious…But for dessert was a delicious watermelon!

After dinner, the girls had some preparation time for their Japanese culture presentations, and then they had to write in a diary in English. Next was bedtime, although no one went to bed for a while!

The next morning, I woke up at 5am because at 5:50 there was a buddhist temple service. We all filed into the temple room, which had hundreds of lanterns hanging from the cieling and a beautiful golden altar at the front. We sat in seiza (on our legs…I lost feeling after a while) and listened as the two monks chanted. It was very interesting and beautiful, almost like a song. However, it was long and becamse boring after a little while. After the chanting, the monk told us about how he helps people on death row, and then we left to take a walk.

We walked up to the Daimon, or the Big Gate, which is a MASSIVE red gate at the front of the town. Then we walked back and ate breakfast, which was more shoujinryouri.

After breakfast, we had more presentation preperation time until lunch. Lunch was a big surprise. We all expected the yucky buddhist food, but when we entered the tatami meeting room, there was CURRY!!! WITH MEAT! Everyone freaked out with happiness. I gorged myself on curry.

There was more preparation after lunch, and then we were allowed to explore and shop the main street afterwards. We wandered for a bit, and then me, Amy, Momo, and Ashi went to this small cafe and had kakigori, or shaved ice.

We returned to the temple and had bath time. After the baths was dinner (not vegetarian!), and then after that we played games and sang songs together. Amy and I taught the girls Stella-Ella-Ola. That was fun. I was the first one out!

After cleaning up the hall and writing in their diaries, the girls and us went back to our rooms to `sleep`.

The next day was our last day. Our breakfast was vegetarian again. After breakfast, we cleaned up the rooms and had our kamishibai contest. This was basically a presentation of a Japanese folk tale in English. Momo`s group won first, Ashi`s second. My group got the `Best Group` prize. We had a small closing ceremony, and then ate lunch, which was DELICIOUS BREAD!!!

We left an hour ahead of schedule, so we took the local train back to Hashimoto and then changed to express. It ended up taking me around 2 hours or more to get home.