Koya-san

Early May marks "Golden Week" in Japan -- a time when there are three public holidays in a row. We kicked off Golden Week with a trip to Koya-san, which is Japan's holiest mountain. It is the headquarters of Japanese Buddhism.
We opted to hike the traditional 14 mile pilgrimage trail up the mountain (now most of the pilgrims take the tram). We lucked out and had a beautiful day for hiking. It was sunny but not too warm, and there was a nice breeze. Also, there were very few other hikers on the trail so it was incredibly peaceful. The hike took us about seven hours.
There are over 100 temples on the mountain, and many of them allow you to stay with them. I was a bit surprised at how much the temple we stayed at seemed like a Japanese-style hotel. After we arrived, we went to onsen (Japanese baths) and then they served us a delicious set-course dinner (vegetarian, of course, since we were in a temple). We had a private room, which even had a TV. However, we were encouraged to get up at 5:30 for the morning prayer. It was interesting, even though it was all in Japanese so we really couldn't understand what they were saying. We were confused, though, after it seemed like the service had ended but then one of the monks lectured us for about a half an hour. All I could understand from his speech was a small section when he repeatedly told us how important greetings are. We should always greet those around us, and we must be cheerful when we do so.
We really enjoyed walking around the town. It has a huge cemetery. It is considered a big honor to be buried in Mt. Koya's cemetery because of the town's ties to Buddhism. Plus there were still cherry blossoms everywhere. It was a wonderful getaway.
There are more pictures on the picasa site.