A white pre-Christmas

Scenes taken in snowy Sapporo – during a prelude to a storm that would bring the city and the Hokkaido prefecture its  heaviest December snowfall in half a century.

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Liberation, 70 years ago, remembered

It was on 2 September 1945, 70 years ago today, that Japan formally surrendered on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, bringing an end to the most devastating of armed conflicts the world had seen. It was a war that “impregnable fortress” that was Singapore found itself drawn into, having been bombed and subsequently occupied by Japan over a three and a half year period that counts as the darkest in modern Singapore’s history.

The surrender ceremony in the Municipal Chamber, 12 September 1945, source: Imperial War Museums © IWM (A 30495).

The formal end of the war and occupation came to Singapore a little after the surrender in Tokyo Bay, an end that was commemorated in a simple yet meaningful ceremony held in City Hall Chamber (now within the National Gallery Singapore)  last Thursday, 27 August. Held in the very hall in which the war in Southeast Asia was formally brought to an end on 12 September 1945, the two hundred or so guests were reminded not only of the surrender, but also of the otherwise unimaginable pain and suffering of those uncertain days. Speaking during the ceremony MAJ (Retired) Ishwar Lall Singh, of the SAF Veterens League, revisited the trauma of war; his experienced echoed by the distinguished poet Professor Edwin Thumboo through a recital of verses recalling the days of Syonan-to.

City Hall Chamber, during the commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the end of the war.

The short ceremony was brought to a close by the sounds of a lone bugler filling the hall with the poignant strains of the Last Call and and then the Rouse on either side of the customary minute-of-silence, just as the call of the bugle on the Padang might have been sounded at the close of the events of 12 September, 70 years ago. Then, the surrender of forces under the command of Field Marshal Count Hisaichi Terauchi, whose grave can be found at the Japanese Cemetery in Singapore, had just been sealed in the Municipal Chamber, an event that was witnessed by scores of jubilant residents freed from the yoke of war.

The Last Post, 27 August 2015.

The Instrument of Surrender signed on 12 September 1945, source: Imperial War Museums © IWM (IND 4818).

General Itagaki and the Japanese contingent being escorted up the steps of the Municipal Building fro the surrender ceremony, source: Imperial War Museums © IWM (CF 719).

The steps of City Hall today, now a wing of the soon-to-be-opened National Art Gallery Singapore.

The war had in all reality come to an abrupt end four weeks prior to the former surrender in Singapore, through the announcement by Emperor Hirohito broadcast to the people of Japan at noon on 15 August of Japan’s acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. That had called for the unconditional surrender of all Japanese forces, a surrender that was to be formalised on the USS Missouri. The impact of the announcement was however only to reach the shores of Singapore on the morning of 5 September, some three weeks later, when troops from the British-led 5th Indian Division made landfall to begin the reoccupation of Singapore.

Reoccupation troops from the 5th Indian Army on landing craft headed into Singapore, source: Imperial War Museums © IWM (SE 4636).

It may be thought of as fortunate that the end of three and a half years of darkness came with little of the violence that had accompanied its beginning. It could have been very different. The 5th Indian Division were poised to launch an invasion of Singapore (and Malaya), which would have taken place on 9 September 1945, if not for the surrender.

MAJ (Retired) Ishwar Lall Singh greeting Minister Lawrence Wong, the Guest of Honour at the commemorative event.

Even with the surrender, there were many in the ranks of the occupying forces who were prepared to carry the fight on to the death. One was General Seishiro Itagaki, the most senior officer after Field Marshal Terauchi. It was Itagaki who would later sign the Instrument of Surrender on the bedridden Terauchi’s behalf, having accepted the Supreme Commander’s orders with some reluctance.  This however did not stop some violent deaths from taking place. Some 300 Japanese officers chose death over surrender and took their own lives after a sake party at Raffles Hotel on 22 August. A platoon of troops had reportedly chosen the same end,  blowing themselves up with hand grenades.

General Itagaki onboard the HMS Sussex signing the terms of Reoccupation on 4 September 1945, source : Imperial War Museums © IWM (A 30481).

By and large, the first British-led troops to land late in the morning on 5 September, encountered none of the resistance some had feared. The terms of the reoccupation were in fact already laid out during an agreement on initial surrender terms that was signed on board the HMS Sussex the previous day. The first flight, which included a contingent of pressmen armed with typewriters alongside fully armed troops, made the two-hour journey on the landing craft from the troop ship HM Trooper Dilwara, anchored twenty miles away out of gun range, bound for Empire Dock “a few minutes after nine o’clock”. An account of this and what they encountered is described in a 5 September 1946 Singapore Free Press article written for the first anniversary of the reoccupation. The same account tells us how the flight had come ashore to “docks that were almost deserted, except for one or two small crowds of Asiatics, who cheered from the water’s edge”.

A view down Bras Basah Road during the reoccupation on 5 September 1945, source: Imperial War Museums © IWM (IND 4817).

Among the 200 guests at the commemorative event were survivors of the war, who were accompanied by family members.

The streets of Singapore had apparently been well policed in the interim by the Japanese. In maintaining sentry at major intersections, the Japanese troops also kept the streets clear to receive the anticipated reoccupation forces and it seems that it was only after word spread of the returning British-led forces that the large cheering crowds seen in many photographs circulated of the reoccupation, began to spill onto the streets.

Crowds lining the streets of Singapore to greet the reoccupying forces, source: Imperial War Museums © IWM (SE 4659).

For most part, the horrors of war, and the liberation that came, are now quite forgotten. While the dates were remembered as Liberation Day and Victory Day in the first years of the return to British rule, 5 September and 12 September have all but faded into insignificance in a nation now obsessed with celebrating it most recent successes. While the initial years that followed may not immediately have fulfilled the promise that liberation seemed to suggest, we are here today only because of what did happen, and because of the men and women who lost their lives giving us our liberation.

Japanese troops being put to work rolling the lawn of the Padang during the reoccupation, source: Imperial War Museums © IWM (SE 4839).

The same roller spotted at the Padang sometime last year.

Joy and hope on the streets. Children following a trishaw carrying two sightseeing British sailors from the reoccupying forces down High Street. Source: Imperial War Museums © IWM (A 30587).

City Hall and the Padang, where the Surrender and Victory Parade took place against the backdrop of a thriving and successful Singapore 70 years on.

Surviving Hiroshima

The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, seven decades ago, is very much in the news today. The bomb, the first of the only two nuclear devices ever used in war, brought death, devastation and immense suffering to the estimated 350,000 inhabitants of densely populated coastal city. In an instant, some 60,000 to 80,000 met their deaths; the toll was to rise significantly in the months to follow and by the year’s end, the numbers increased to 140,000. Many who survived, lived with the after effects of radiation, and as of August of last year, a total of 292,325 deaths from its population has been attributed to the bomb.

One who has lived to tell of the horror of the bomb, Mr Miyake Nobuo, now 86, was in Singapore in April of this year as part of the Peace Boat Hibakusha Project. Lending his voice to the chorus of voices of the hibakusha or atomic bomb survivors in support of the Peace Boat’s campaign for a nuclear free world, Mr Miyake described the moment the bomb fell. He was 16 and riding in a streetcar just 1.8 kilometres from the hypocentre. Describing the flash of the blast as “like many camera flashes going off”, his instinctive reaction to jump off the streetcar proved to be the right one as all who remained on the streetcar perished.

Mr Miyake Nobuo, who was 16 when the bomb fell 1.8 km from where he was in Hiroshima standing in front of a projection of the scene of devastation around the city 70 years ago.

Since 2008, the project has seen a total of 150 hibakusha sail on the Peace Boat on the Global Voyages for a Nuclear Free World. The testimonies of the survivors, the project hopes, will help in raising awareness to audiences worldwide of the horrors of nuclear weapons. As the time approaches when we will no longer hear the first-hand accounts of the survivors – the average age of the hibakusha is now over 80 and with this year’s voyage potentially the last, the testimonies and preserving them become all the more important. An organisation that is continuing with the effort to get the words of the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki out is the Mayors for Peace, who have initiated the “I was her age” project. The project, delivers the accounts of the then child-survivors to parents of children now in the same age group,  to bring home the threat to the world of the future that such weapons pose.

More on the hibakusha from a previous Peace Boat visit can be found in this post, The Peace Boat docks at the POD. A video produced by the “I was her age” project can also be found below.

Strange spaces: the mound of ears

I first caught sight of the Mimizuka (耳塚) in the fading light of dusk. What can best be described as a mound of earth topped with a gorinto – a five-tiered pagoda often used as gravestones; the Mimizuka looked mysterious and curiously out of place against the backdrop of the line of low lying roofs silhouetted against the twilight sky. Surrounded by what largely is a quiet residential neighbourhood in the Higashiyama district of of Kyoto, the mound, I was to discover, stands as a relic of a brutal past.

Translated from Japanese as “Mound of Ears”, it is where the remains of tens of thousands of humans are buried. Originally named as the “Mound of Noses” or Hanazuka (鼻塚), the remains it contains are in fact noses – those that were severed from at least 38,000 Koreans killed during the Japanese military expeditions into the peninsula initiated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the end of the 1500s. Preserved in brine and shipped to Japan as trophies, the noses were buried at the location in 1597 during the time of the second invasion of Korea. 

It is in an area that is very much associated with Toyotomi Hideyoshi that one finds the rather macabre monument, just down the very generously proportioned Shomen-dori (正面通) that runs west from the Toyokuni Jinja (豊国神社), a shrine dedicated to the cruel but much revered daimyo.

The area is also where the grand Hoko-ji (方広寺) temple housing the great Buddha of Kyoto was put up by Toyotomi Hideyoshi – intended to rival the Daibutsu, or giant Buddha, of Nara, in scale. Much of the temple, construction of which began in 1586, and its Buddha was destroyed in an earthquake in 1596  and only its bell has survived to this day.

More information can on the little known Mimizuka can be found in a New York Times article written for the 400th anniversary of the mound, Japan, Korea and 1597: A Year That Lives in Infamy as well as in a Wikipedia entry. More on the Hoko-ji, the Toyokuni Jinja and the area can also be found at this site.

The Peace Boat docks at the POD

It was two Sundays ago at the National Library’s the POD that the opportunity arose to hear the accounts of the Hibakusha. Survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki close to seven decades ago, the group of seven, together with other participants of the Peace Boat Hibakusha Project, were in Singapore to share their remarkable accounts of survival in the face of the effects of what has to be one of the most horrifying weapons mankind has employed in an armed conflict. The project, has participants making a global voyage on a passenger ship, and is aimed at promoting peace and sustainability and ultimately, a nuclear-free world.

Small group discussions with the Hibakusha at the POD.

It is much more than time and distance that separate us from the horrors of a war in which Singapore had been very much a part of. We in the Singapore of today, have had the good fortune of being separated from some of the conflicts of more recent times and it would be very difficult for us to imagine what it was like living through the war, let alone attempt to comprehend what the survivors of the atomic bombs must have lived through.

Mr. Lee Jongkeun, a second-generation Korean resident in Japan who was 15 when the bomb fell on Hiroshima.

The first of the Hibakusha we did hear from was Mr. Lee Jongkeun, not a Japanese, but a second-generation Korean resident in Japan. Aged 15 when the bomb fell on Hiroshima, Mr. Lee spoke, among other things, of the discrimination he faced, even to this day, as a resident of Korean origin. The presence of Mr. Lee, also highlighted the fact the the victims of the a-bomb weren’t just Japanese, but also many other nationalities. The victims included some 70,000 who were forcibly brought from the then Japanese colony of Korea to work in Japan, as well as Chinese who were there in similar circumstances and also the many prisoners of war being held in the areas at the time.

Ms Michiko Hattori, who was a 16 year-old nurse 3.5 km away from the hypocentre in Hiroshima.

Following the testimony of Mr. Lee, there was a short performance by Ms. Ayumi Hamada – an actress and a youth participant in the Peace Boat project, who recited a poem, before another Hibakusha, Ms Michiko Hattori, spoke. A 16 year-old nurse with the Military Medicine Department in Hiroshima at the time of the bombing, Ms Hattori, she was only 3.5 km away from the hypocenter, and related some of the horrifying scenes she encountered after she recovered consciousness and attended to the other casualties in the aftermath of the bombing.

Ms. Ayumi Hamada with Ms. Michiko Hattari.

There was an opportunity to also hear from the other Hibakusha – all with a common tale not just of what was encountered in the immediate aftermath, but also of the discrimination they faced long after, along with the after effects of exposure to radiation that left many with long term illnesses and the fear many felt of what were uncertain futures. Many had difficulty finding marriage partners as a result.

Ms. Nobuko Sugino, who was 1 year old and 1.3 km from the hypo centre.

Ms. Nobuko Sugino, who was a year old when the bomb was dropped, and at her home 1.3 km away from the hypocentre, was too young to remember  the aftermath. She spoke of the fears she had growing up due to the exposure she had to radiation. We were reminded of the story of Sadako Sasaki and the 1000 origami paper cranes. Sadako was 2 at the time of the bombing, and at her home at a distance of some 1.6 km from the hypocentre. She had been in good health for some 9 years before she became ill and was diagnosed with leukaemia before dying at the age of 12. Sadako had attempted to fold 1000 paper cranes in the hope that it would allow her wish to be granted by the gods, falling short of her target before the disease claimed her life. The story of Sadako had many like Ms. Sugino fearing that they might suffer a similar fate.

Ms. Noriko Sakashita, who was 2.

Ms. Motoko Nakamura who was 11 months.

 Another survivor that did recount what it was like in the immediate aftermath was Mr. Takanari Sakata. He was 15 and working at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shipyard in Hiroshima as a part of the mobilisation of students. He has very vivid memories of the scenes that he was to witness after regaining consciousness. He spoke of the scene that greeted him as he had walked across a bridge near the only building that had been left standing in the hypocentre – what is today the iconic A-Bomb Dome that serves as a memorial. From the bridge, one side of which had collapsed inwards and the other outwards, he could see many blackened bodies of victims in the river and many who had survived asking for water, which he was advised not to give as it would have killed them.

Mr. Takanari Sakata, who was 15 and working at a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shipyard in Hiroshima, 3 km from the hypocentre.

It is in hearing from the Hibakusha, who have shown great courage and determination in attempting to reach out to the world in the hope that their testimonies will help with the realisation that the experience they had been in, should never again be repeated and it is only with a nuclear-free world that the risk of it happening again will diminish.

A youth participant speaking.

On the Peace Boat, now in its seventh global voyage for a nuclear-free world, with the Hibakusha, are several youths who hope to raise awareness of the need for a nuclear-free world to fellow youths worldwide through their participation. Besides their involvement in workshops, they hope to interact with the young from different countries. The Peace Boat, having left Singapore, continues on what will be a 104 day voyage around the world that will see it calling at 20 ports in 18 countries, before returning to Yokohama on 24 June 2014. More information on the project and the Hibakusha can be found at the Peace Boat’s website, www.peaceboat.org.

An image of children quenching their thirst on snow that had covered the hypocentre in Hiroshima on display.

Some of the horrifying images seen in the aftermath – on display at the session.

 

The Great Buddha in a citadel of peace

One of the amazing sights in Nara (known as Heijo-kyo or the citadel of peace), a UNESCO World Heritage Site which served as the capital of Japan from 710 to 784, must be the Great Buddha (Daibutsu) and the Great Buddha Hall (大仏殿) or Daibutsuden that houses it. The hall, measuring some 57 metres long, 50 metres wide and 48 metres high, is reputedly the world’s largest wooden building. The giant Buddha statue, measuring some 15 metres tall in the seated position, the hall houses is also said to be the world’s largest bronze Buddha image – which weighing some 500 tonnes, is thought that it consumed a substantial part of the country’s bronze production over the years it took to build it, leaving the country almost bankrupt.

The Great Buddha Hall, Daibutsuden seen from across the Kagami-ike pond.

The Daibutsuden which is within the Todaiji complex is reputedly the world’s largest wooden building.

The main gate into the compound housing the Daibutsuden.

The hall and the Buddha – an image of Vairocana, revered by the Kegon sect of Buddhism, serves as the main focal point of the Todaiji Temple complex, which dates back to 752. The wooden structure of the current hall, dates back to a fire induced rebuilding effort in 1688 to 1709, which saw it built to a scale of two-thirds of the 87 metre wide orginal hall (which had already been rebuilt twice previously). The current hall features a seven-bay wooden structure which encloses the 15 metre giant bronze 500 tonne statue, as well as two large images of bosatsu or bodhisattva flanking it – an addition made during the last rebuilding. The giant statue has itself been reconstructed several times – its head has been recast following fires and earthquakes. Its current head dates back to 1692.

The scale of the giant Buddha can be seen against several suited businessmen attending a ceremony being conducted on a platform below it.

The Buddha is flanked by two Bosatsu, added in 1709. The Kokuzo Basatsu is found to the Great Buddha’s right.

The design of the hall, the scale of which will have any visitor in awe, features a wooden beam and bracketing structure which is thought to have been done by craftsmen from China.  It is also possible to pass around the Great Buddha, in turn thought to be the work of craftsmen from Korea. To the rear of the hall, a wooden model provides a glimpse of the original Daibutsuden. There are also two statues of heavenly guardians from the Edo Period, Koumokuten and Tamoten. Another interesting find is a pillar with a hole at the bottom of it – popular belief has it that anyone who can squeeze through the hole will attain Enlightenment or Nirvana.

Koumokuten, one of two heavenly guardians from the Edo period found in the hall.

A view from the entrance to the Great Buddha Hall.

A child squeezes through a pillar behind the Great Buddha. Popular belief has it that anyone who can squeeze through the hole will attain Nirvana.

The hall, during my visit, did see a steady flow of visitors, both young and old, most stopping to ritually purify themselves with fresh water outside the hall. By the entrance to the hall on the outside, is a rather interesting wooden statue – that of Pindola Bharadvaja or Binzuru, a disciple of Buddha. In Japan, it is a belief that anyone ill rubbing the part of an image of Binzuru corresponding to the part of the body where the ailment is, followed by rubbing the same part on their own body after, will be cured of the ailment.

Water and water ladles for purification – a must when entering a shrine or temple.

Joss sticks at the entrance to the hall.

Members of a school group visiting the hall.

A student visitor heading towards the exit.

A close-up of one of the massive wooden doors of the hall.

A wooden statue of Pindola Bharadvaja or Binzuru, a disciple of Buddha. The belief in Japan is that anyone ill rubbing the part of an image of Binzuru corresponding to the part of the body where the ailment is and rubbing the same part on their own body after, will be cured.

The grounds of the Daibutsuden seen during Autumn.

Another view of the Daibutsuden from across its grounds.

More information on the Todaiji and the Daibutsuden, as well as on the UNESCO World Heritage listing can be found at the following sites:

• UNESCO: Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara
• Go Japan Go: Todaiji
• Japanese Buddhist Society: Birushana Buddha
• Atlas Obscura: Tōdai-ji and the Daibutsuden
• Lonely Planet: Daibutsu-den in Nara

Devotion

A photograph of a group of elderly pilgrims on the final part of their ascent up a long and steep staircase to the Nigatsu-dō (二月堂) sub-complex on the slopes of Wakakusa-yama (若草山). The Nigatsu-dō is part of the Tōdai-ji (東大寺) temple complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Nara – the imperial capital of Japan during the Nara Period. The Nigatsu-dō, which translates into “The Hall of the Second Month” dates back to 752, although most of what we see today was rebuilt from 1667 to 1669 after a fire destroyed the temple. For the less religious, the climb up to the Nigatsu-dō is well worth the effort – from a terrace of the main temple, one gets a breathtaking view of the Yamato Inland Plain.

A different sea of red last autumn

Visiting the former Japanese Imperial capital of Kyoto last year to catch the sea of red and gold the city draws many to it each autumn for, I took the opportunity to see a different sea of red and gold – that of the amazing sight of thousands of red torii gates, which in the golden glow of the bright autumn sunshine does take on an almost golden sheen at the Fushimi Inari Shrine. The shrine is possibly one of the most visited shrines there and is popular not just with the locals – many businessmen and students visit at the start of the day before heading to the office or to school, but also with many visitors intent on catching one of the most frequently photographed sights in the city – the tunnel formed by the numerous closely spaced torii gates arranged one after the other.

The shrine is popular with many in Kyoto. Many businessmen and students visit it before heading to the office or to school.

The torii gates are each inscribed with the donor’s names – mostly businesses seeking the blessings of Inari – the Shinto deity of rice and fertility (also representing abundance and wealth), arranged along pathways that lead up an incline to the top of Mount Inari. The shirne also sees an interesting practice – children visit the shrine during a festival in November in the year they turn 3, 5 and 7. Besides this there are also many interesting discoveries along the way to the top of the mount – including the many images of the fox, messengers of Inari, which is hard not to miss. It is however for the amazing sight that the red torii gates do provide that makes Fushimi Inari a must visit when in Kyoto.

A poster depicting the practice in which children visit the shrine in the year they turn 3, 5 and 7.

Views around Fushimi Inari:

Autumn in Kyoto

What is undoubtedly one of the best places in Asia to catch the autumn colours is the former imperial capital of Japan, Kyoto. The backdrop that the mountains, rivers, streams that surround the city which is blessed with beautifully landscaped gardens and magnificent temple complexes, provides for a magnificent setting to view the brilliant mix of red and gold that colour the city each autumn, and it is just to view the colours that thousands from far and wide descend on the city every November. The best time to see the colours is during the second half of November and I was perhaps a little too early to catch the peak of the change of colours, I did however manage to see some rather spectacular views of the autumn colours in and around the city.

November’s a busy time in and around Kyoto when many from far and wide flock to the former imperial capital just to catch koyo (紅葉)- the autumn coloured foliage.

Grounds of the Tenryu-ji Temple (天龍寺) in the Arashiyama (嵐山) area.

Garden (南芳院) near the Tenryu-ji (天龍寺).

View provided by a boat ride along the Hozugawa (保津川) or Hozu River from Kameoka (亀岡市) to Arashiyama (嵐山).

Another view of the Hozugawa (保津川).

Higashiyama (東山区).

Higashiyama (東山区) outside Ginkakuji (銀閣寺), the Silver Pavilion

Ginkakuji (銀閣寺) ,the Silver Pavilion.

A view through the window at Ginkakuji (銀閣寺) ,the Silver Pavilion.

Ginkakuji (銀閣寺) ,the Silver Pavilion with koyo and susuki (Japanese pampas grass).

Grounds of the Ginkakuji (銀閣寺) ,the Silver Pavilion.

A view of Ginkakuji (銀閣寺) ,the Silver Pavilion, from the hills in the grounds.

Another view of Ginkakuji (銀閣寺) ,the Silver Pavilion, from the hills in the grounds.

An autumn leaf falls at Ginkakuji (銀閣寺) ,the Silver Pavilion.

Along the Philosopher’s Walk (哲学の道).

Another view of the Philosopher’s Walk (哲学の道).

Otani-hombyo (大谷本廟) the mausoleum of Shinran Shonin, the founder of Jodo Shinshu (Shin Buddhism).

The Main Hall of the Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The temple was established in 778. Most of the current buildings were constructed between 1631 to 1633.

Autumn evening illuminations at Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺). Many temples in Kyoto are illuminated during the autumn tourist season.

The grounds of Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺) with the three-storey pagoda.

Another part of the Kiyomizu-dera’s (清水寺) grounds.

Eikando (永観堂) Temple night illuminations.

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Useful Links:

Viewing of Autumn Foliage in Japanese Culture
Kyoto Walks (JNTO)
The Philosopher’s Walk (Japan-Guide.com)
Sagano / Arashiyama (JNTO)
Higashiyama (JNTO)
Kiyomizu-dera
Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion)
Tenryu-ji Temple (Japanese)
Eikando Temple
Otani-Hombyo (Japanese)
Hozugawa River Boat Ride

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A walk through Japan’s largest cemetery

Despite having an aversion to resting places of the dead, I found myself enjoying walks through a couple of cemeteries on a recent visit that I made to Japan with a few friends. One did have the distinction of being the largest cemetery in the country. Located on Mount Koya (高野山 Koya-san) in Wakayama Prefecture (和歌山県), that cemetery does not just contain an estimated 200,000 graves, but a site which is sacred to the Shingon School of Buddhism, being where the mausoleum of the sect’s founder, Kukai or Kobo-Daishi, is located and where he is said to lie in eternal meditation. The cemetery, together with the mausoleum at the end of a 2 kilometre walk through the cemetery is in fact a pilgrimage site for Shingon Buddhism, one of the mainstream schools of Buddhism in Japan. It part of the larger Koyasan area which again makes up part of the “Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range” which was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.

A stream, the Tamagawa, marks the boundary of separating the inner sanctuary, Okunoin, the most sacred section where Gobyo, the mausoleum of Kobo Dashi or Kukai, the founder of the Japanese Shingon sect of Buddhism on Koyasan, lies.

Set in what does seem like an enchanted forest of ancient towering cedar trees, the cemetery is one of the must visit sites in the Koyasan area, which lies at the heart of Shingon Buddhism, having been where Kukai established his monastery in the 9th century – the 900m altitude valley was said to have been chosen as a retreat as its layout resembled a eight petal lotus flower with it being surrounded by eight peaks. At its height during the Edo period, it is thought that there were some 2,000 temples in Koyasan, of which only 123 exist today.

A night time view of Ichino-hashi which marks the entrance to the cemetery.

The walk through the cemetery starts with the crossing of Ichino-hashi (一の橋), a bridge which marks the entrance to the sacred site. From the bridge, a pleasant 2 kilometre walk through the air of calm provided by the cedar trees which line the well paved cobblestone path surrounded by the ordered disorder of the cemetery’s moss covered gravestones, is what it takes to reach Okunoin (奥の院). Okunoin is the inner sanctuary where Gobyo (御廟), the mausoleum of Kūkai is located and where lights of a thousand years are said to burn in some of the 10,000 lanterns found in the Toro-do (燈籠堂) or Lantern Hall which stands in front of Gobyo.

An area close to the entrance to the cemetery.

The tree-lined path through the cemetery.

The walk, does provide for many fascinating discoveries – if one has the time to look for them. There are the graves of many religious leaders, feudal lords, military commanders and more recent ones where business leaders find rest – some which do go back to 12th century. There also are several other interesting finds – one that will not be hard to locate would be the Sugatami-no-ido (姿見の井戸) or the Well of Reflections. Found immediately after the second bridge, Nakano-hashi (中の橋), legend has it that if one looks into the well and does not see his or her reflection, death will come to that person within three years.

Nakano-hashi, the second bridge.

A shrine where the statue of Asekaki Jizo (Sweating Jizo), a bodhisattva who takes the place of others in suffering, is found. To its right is the Sugatami-no-ido, the Well of Reflections.

Sugatami-no-ido, the Well of Reflections.

Moss covered gravestones.

There are also several others discoveries to be made beyond the Nakano-hashi. These include the Zenni-jochi (禅尼上智碑) – a 90 cm memorial to a Buddhist nun. It is said that one would be able to hear the cries in hell by placing one’s ear on the stone. Another one which would not be missed is a memorial to soldiers who perished in North Borneo during the second world war. That is immediately identifiable from the three flags – that of Japan, Malaysia and Australia, which hang on a flag pole at the memorial.

Memorial to soldiers who perished during the second world war in North Borneo.

A shrine in the woods.

It is not long before one comes to the Gobyo-bashi (御廟橋), the bridge over the Tamagawa – the stream which separates the most sacred inner sanctuary, Okunoin, from the rest of the cemetery. Looking beyond the bridge, the Toro-do is seen at the end of the path up a flight of steps. It is with the sacred waters of the Tamagawa that pilgrims, many dressed in white robes, cleanse themselves before entering the sanctuary. The inner sanctuary is also where the Miroku-ishi (弥勒石) or Miroku stone can be found – a short distance from the bridge. It is said that the stone feels light to the good and heavy to the sinful.

Okunoin’s Toro-do as seen from Gobyo-bashi.

Pilgrims crossing the Gobyo-bashi.

Votive tablets placed in the Tamagawa.

Crossing the Gobyo-bashi, after which photography is not permitted, one does feel a sense of inner peace. This is heightened stepping into the Toro-do where the chanting of the rows of saffron robed monks somehow adds to the peaceful atmosphere. Having found a semblance of the peace that many seek in making a pilgrimage to Okunoin, it was then time to head back. The walk towards Ichino-hashi, made longer than it might have been by the shower of hail and by the biting wind, was in no way less enjoyable (although my companions would probably disagree with me) than the walk in to Okunoin. As we cross over the Ichino-hashi we see more heading into the cemetery – the cemetery does in all probability draw a substantial portion of the 1.2 million visitors that come to Mount Koya annually, many on a spiritual journey, and some like us, just to discover the peace and beauty that only a cemetery such as this is able offer.

The cemetery also has several interesting statues.

Stone lamps line many of the paths through the cemetery.

The cemetery by night – stone lamps light the paths up.

A ‘dressed’ Jizo statue.

Another ‘dressed’ Jizo.

A grave.

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Getting there:

Mount Koya (高野山 Koya-san) is quite easily accessible from Osaka via the Nankai Electric Railway’s Koya Line. Trains leave regularly from Osaka’s Namba Station and all it takes is an hour and a half by express train to Gokurakubashi, 5 minutes by funicular up to Koyasan. From Kōyasan, there are public buses to Ichino-bashi. A round trip ticket that includes the train, funicular and a two day bus ticket can be purchased at Osaka Namba station for ¥2780.

Visitors to Mount Koya have the option of a unique experience an overnight stay at one of 53 temples, such as the Shojoshin-in Temple which is just by the Ichino-hashi which my friends and I put up at. Included in the cost of accommodation is two vegetarian meals (breakfast and dinner). More information on this can be found at Japanese Guest Houses.

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Resources on Koyasan / Okunoin:

Koyasan Shingon Buddhism
Kukai / Kobo-Daishi
Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range (UNESCO)
Okunoin (奥の院), the inner sanctuary
Gobyo (御廟), the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi
Toro-do (燈籠堂) or Lantern Hall
Nankai Electric Railway Koya Line
Koyasan/Gokurakubashi Station information
Nankai Electric Railway Guide on Koyasan
Japanese Guest Houses (Koyasan)

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