Kayo-San; part one

Kayo-San
We left Tokyo early in the morning to get to Kayo-San. We had to check in at 3pm to the temple, and I wasn't too sure how long it would take us to get there. We took a Shinkansen (bullet train) to Shin-Osaka, and then another train up into the mountains. I found out on the way back that we could have gotten much closer to Kayo-San with our JR rail passes and spent less money, but ah well. The train ride into the mountains was breath taking. You get to the end of the line and then have to take a cable car up the mountain for about 15 minutes and then a very harrowing bus ride to get into Kayo-San. We arrived and discovered we had left the tiny pineapples on the bus. We hadn't even tried any of the yet, let alone taken a picture of them. We were crushed.
We found our temple, which was right next to the beginning of the cemetery. It was such an amazingly calming place to be. Everything you would expect from a Buddhist temple. There was a formality to everything that felt very old Japan. We stayed in a fabulous tatami mat room, with futons and kimonos. Our balcony looked out over the small pond at the back of the temple. We took a little visit and discovered that it was full of frogs and salamanders and a few tiny koi.
Our dinner was stunning. We wore our kimonos to dinner and sat on the floor. It seemed as though there were a million tiny portions of different foods, all vegetarian and all fabulous tasting.
We were tired after a day of travel, but we decided to go out and walk around in the graveyard. It was empty and so amazingly peaceful. It has stood there for over 1000 years and people are still buried there today. We took some amazing night photo's of the stars. When we got back to the temple we decided we needed a bath. I think I can say that is the most amazing bath I have EVER had. I had the bathroom to myself (it was shared). I stepped into a deceptively deep cedar tub that was so big that I could float stretched out in it and when I sat down the water touched my chin. The water was the perfect level of hot. I stayed in the bath for a very long time. We fell asleep to the sound of the frogs outside in the pond....
We woke up early early early in the morning to go down to the main hall and participate in the morning prayers. The particular temple we stayed in is a temple where they pray for the deceased, and there were Japanese families there to offer prayers to their loved ones. We were asked to come up and I said a prayer for mom. She felt very close to me the entire time I was in Kayo-San. The monks chanted for more than an hour. Their voices were amazing, washing over me with long practiced tones.
We then went for breakfast, which was just as impressive, if a bit smaller, than dinner had been. We then went and took a little nap before we checked out. We left our bags with the monks and wandered up into the main area of the town of Kayo-San. Kayo-San is full of temples, and there is not really much else there, except all the things to support visitors and the temples themselves. There are monks EVERYWHERE!!! We knew that is was Kobo Daishi's birthday and so were pretty sure there would be some type of ritual or festivities. We heard there was a procession, so we picked a spot along the main road and waited.
It was amazing. It went on for more than 2 hours. All sorts of dancers, monks, children, music, floats, carried pagodas, etc...There was an amazing range of dancing and dancers, from very tiny kids tethered to a rope to keep them from straying off the road to very ancient of women doing the hand movements from wheelchairs. I took many many pictures and Peter filmed the entire thing. There were a few monks along the way who were throwing small pieces of decorated paper, which people would madly scrabble for all over the street, laughing and smiling the whole time. I assume there were blessings of some kind, for good fortune. I was given two by a kind man who was standing beside us (and kept moving people out of the way for Peter's camera) We also saw the head of Shingon Buddhism speak, even though we could not understand what he said. We felt pretty lucky to see the parade, as it seems such a mix of traditional and modern Japan.
We then decided to wander back towards graveyard. We spent hours in here. The whole place made me feel so calm that I had lots of emotion come up. When you stop and are silent you hear the things that are buried deeply within you. I had wanted to leave some of mom's ashes here, and I wandered up into an area that seemed impossibly old, with tiny gravestones with only the outline of faces. I spent some time here, liking the idea of mom hanging out with a bunch of ancient monks. As I was getting ready to leave I broke my prayer necklace. I have had this necklace for years and years, and I made it myself. I totally broke down and sobbed and sobbed. I managed to find all but one of the 108 beads, and I felt ok with leaving one of my beads with mom (I ended up getting a replacement bead at a shrine in Kyoto).
We walked until we reached Kobo Daishi's resting place. He does not have a tomb because he is believed to be still alive, meditating and waiting for the return of the Buddha. We poured water over the heads of the line of Buddha's (in honour of deceased loved ones). I tried to lift the stone that apparently is the weight of your sins. I couldn't lift it at all, Peter managed it (he's younger, less time to accumulate sins).
We walked back to the temple and picked up our bags and wandered off to find a place to camp.