Geography
Wakayama Prefecture is located in the southeast of Japan's largest island, Honshu, and belongs to the Kansai region, which also includes the cities of Osaka, Kyoto and Nara. Its coastline faces the Pacific Ocean and partly the Inland Sea. The capital is the city of the same name, Wakayama, where over a third of the population of this mountainous prefecture lives.
History
During the Edo period, a castle was erected here on Mount Torafuso, where the headquarters of Tokugawa Yoshimune, the eighth shogun of the Tokugawa clan that ruled Japan during the Edo period, was located. For over a thousand years, since the Heian period, these places have been the refuge of Shingon school of mountain Buddhism, the center of which was the temple complexes on Mount Koyasan, which are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Culture, attractions
and entertainment
In the city of Wakayama itself there is a castle that belonged to the Tokugawa clan during the Edo period. However, what Wakayama Prefecture is most famous for is that it is home to one of the largest spiritual sanctuaries in Japan - Mount Koyasan.
The first temple on the slopes of this mountain was founded back in 819 by monk Kukai, the founders of the Shingon school, one of the most influential schools of Japanese Buddhism. Today, in the vicinity of the mountain there are dozens of monastery hotels, which have been visited year-round by pilgrims from all over Japan for many centuries.
Here, among many other temples, is the Okuno-in temple complex, which is the tomb of Kukai, also known as Kobo Daishi. This is one of the most sacred places in Japan. To get to the interior, you need to cross the Ichinohashi Bridge (“First Bridge”), and then, through another bridge, reach the main hall of the complex, Torodo, where Kukai’s mausoleum is located.
Also worth a visit is the Garan Temple, which houses a statue of the head of the Japanese Buddhist pantheon, Dainichi Nerai. The legendary pine tree where Kukai found his sankosho (ceremonial object) brought from China still grows here.
Kogobu-ji Temple, built by shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi, houses memorial halls where Kukai's life story, including his journey to China and the founding of Koya-san, can be found.
The slopes of Koyasan are home to many shukyubo, Buddhist temples that offer traditional pilgrim-style inns, overnight accommodations and local vegetarian cuisine served to monks. At these temples there are usually “rotemburo” - open-air mineral baths.
In addition, from Koya-san there is a pilgrimage route, called Kumano-kodo, to the Kumano Shinto shrine complex in Mie Prefecture.
The easiest way to get to Wakayama City from Osaka is by express train, which takes about an hour and a half. There is a cable car leading to the Koyasan Shrines.
Top