Day 11: Kayosan

We were up and adam this morning just past 6am. We attended a traditional Buddhist prayer session. We entered a large chamber dimly lit by hundreds of lanters hung from the ceiling. We knelt behind 4 monks as they chanted their morning prayers. Incense burned, bells were rang, and after an hour the ceremony concluded and an English speaking monk gave us a tour of the prayer area and explained some of the symbolism. It was a very interesting experience.


After a vegetarian breakfast that left a lot to be desired, we packed up and headed out to explore Kayosan. Our walk took us through an ancient cedar forest with enormous and very old trees. In this forest were endless graves, tombs, and mausoleums (we were told ~2,000). The tombstones were huge, the grounds beautiful, and everything felt very old. The air was very fresh as you would expect in the mountains. We crossed some beautiful bridges and arrived at a large temple where monks were praying and a fire ceremony was being conducted. This was similar to the ceremony we attended in the morning, but in a MUCH larger temple.
After the graveyard, we walked to the “end of the road” where we embarked on a relaxing 20 minute hike to a lookout. Since we were already in the mountains, we expected that lookouts would be very conveniently located – not so. We hiked over 1km up EXTREMELY steep terrain. Steve would often have to stop to help Jess. We were happy for our hiking shoes. We walked uphill lanes only wide enough for a single person wrapping the hill with along steep slopes that you would not want to test in the event of a misstep. After many breaks, we arrived at the top and enjoyed rolling mountains which varied in colour depending on their distance. It was pretty spectacular. Wet with sweat, we returned to the temple, collected our bags, ate lunch, and headed to the bus station. After riding the cable car and transferring multiple times, we boarded our bullet train in shin-osaka and headed to Hiroshima. The bullet trains are amazing – neither of us have ever moved this fast on land (~200+ kmph). The trip was ~5hrs in total. We checked in to our hotel, grabbed a bite, and headed to bed early to be ready for a busy next day!

View from lookout - We are most proud of these given the effort they required!

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