December 15th, 2023

Day 12

Today started at 4 AM. Why 4 AM? I couldn’t sleep! Didn’t exercise that much the day before. Plus, I need to wake up by at least 5:30, so putting my head down to sleep now wasn’t the wisest choice.

So I got up, went to the bathhouse to take a shower, dipped myself in Onsen, and went back to my room to get dressed. I knew it’s gonna be cold, so I put on my winter jacket that I bought on Day 2 but never wore even once.

The monk that engaged me yesterday saw me walking to the bathhouse, so he must woke up earlier than I did. When I reached Hondo, the main hall for worshipping, he was there waiting for me. He knelt by the door to wait for the people to come. He greeted me, and opened the door for me to enter. At the entrance, there is a bowl full of incense dust. He asked me to grab a little and smear it evenly over my hand. Then, he told me that I can grab a chair if I am not comfortable kneeling. There are two sizes available, one tall and one short. I picked the tall one at first, then, I decided to pick the short one to blend in.

It also wasn’t as cold as I have imagined it to be. What I wore for the class was comfortable in a room where there is no heater turned on; not at this temple. There is a giant heater in the middle of the room. Since I was the first one there, I sat in the middle right next to the heater. As the heat wore me down, I removed my newly bought winter jacket and reconfigured it back into the small bag that it came with, and set it next to me.

I snapped this picture when no one was around and the monk was outside greeting other guests. I’m not sure if we can take pictures in here, but no one was around to say anything, soooo.

Soon, everyone arrived. The class started at 6 AM sharp, with the monk being the only one there teaching. He got back behind the wooden screen and started to chant in monotone. I’m already not the best Japanese speaker, him speaking in a vernacular completely different from the standardized Japanese did not help. I only understood a few things like when he mentioned “Kongobuji”, a temple here. I believe all temples here on Koyasan belong to the Kongobuji temple complex.

When the monk chanted, a guest came forward to the incense pot in the middle of the room, grabbed a little bit of the incense dust, held it near his forehead, spread it on the pot, and so forth, for three times. Then he prayed. His wife followed suit. After a while, a woman came to the pot, did the incense thing; but she kowtowed, meaning that while the Japanese people prayed by putting their hands together, she prayed by putting her head on the floor. That was not the way Japanese people pray, that’s how Chinese people pray. She’s Chinese, case closed lol.

Soon, everyone prayed with the incense dust, it came to me. Didn’t want to make a fool of myself, so I did exactly what everyone did. I also did my best to sit on my own legs while kneeling, and I am proud of myself that I didn’t scream out of anguish from my knees bending in a way that they haven’t been in years. Much like the time I was in Korea.

When the monk finished chanting, he came to us, and explained what he just chanted in standardized Japanese. He said a lot about being healthy and have a good state of mind, but one thing that he said that I have remembered till this day, was this:

“It is okay to have desire. The desire to eat, the desire to drink, the desire to sleep. We need these desires to survive. It is important that we use our desires in the right way.”

Wow. Wise words. This is completely different from the mainstream buddhism that China has: to not have desires. The Chinese buddhism considers desires to be the product of mankind, and it is only by leaving the desires behind can the person find its way to nirvana. I like this way much better. To have desires is a good thing, just need to focus it in the right direction. Wise words.

After the explanation, the monk took us to the back entrance, a stone garden, visible only to the guests of Fukuchiin. The stone garden isn’t very big, but featured many different colors of zen stones. That’s 6 AM in the morning for you, very dark still.

The monk then took us to walk around the Hondo, with its collection of artifacts of the Buddhist Shingon sect. There were papers hung half way on each doorway, the monk explained that to be a special kind of paper for Koyasan. Didn’t quite get the importance of papers but okay.

When the tour ended, so ended the class itself. There is a section of the Hondo itself that sells souvenirs like Omamoris. Yesterday, when I bought omamoris at Okunoin, since I didn’t know the rules of Kosei at the time, I thought that I need to give the girls bribes in order for me to take the pictures of their below the belt area, so I figured that I’d buy an Omamori for each of the girls, one, as a bribe, and two, as a thank you for letting me finally see what I have been wanting to see but couldn’t. The Omamori at Kongobuji, the main temple that I visited yesterday, costs about 700 Yen per piece, which is rather expensive. So I had in mind that the Omamori at this temple will cost around 700 per piece as well.

However, the price was 500 Yen. That’s when I bought 10 Omamoris, 5 in red and 5 in blue. I figured that I would give it to the 10 girls that I saw two days ago, as a thank you. Of course, for the people at Kosei, it’s more or less a bribe.

The price came to 5,000 Yen, and there is no change at the souvenir stand in Hondo. The monk asked for my room number and told me to get my change at the front desk when I check out. I thanked him, took the Omamoris, and walked out. On the way back to my room, I thought about souvenirs in general. Shouldn’t I buy some more Omamoris not just for the dancers, but for people back home? These Omamoris are only buyable at this temple only, and they don’t look half bad, so why not. With that thought, I returned to the Hondo when the monk was preparing to shut it off, asked him if I can add some more to the shopping cart, and got 10 more.

The thing with this temple and temple lodging in general, is that the check-out time is set at 9 AM. Yes that’s right, 9 AM. I’ve seen 10 AM check-outs in Japan, but 9 AM is a first. I think the logic behind the early check-out time is that you’re going to have to wake up at 5 AM to see the lecture anyways, it’s not like you came to temple lodging just for the hotel part, so after your class, eat your damn breakfast, and get on your merry way.

And so I did. I went back to the dining hall where I had dinner yesterday. Breakfast was vegan as well; and it wasn’t as plentiful as dinner. It also didn’t taste as well; but only because I haven’t eaten meat in a long time and is very hungry. It did its purpose of making me full for a little bit, and only for a little bit, before I went back to my room, packed all the things up, and went for an 8 AM check-out time.

Why did I rush to check-out so early? Today is the 15th, and according to the kind old man who sat next to me last time I was at Kosei, there is something special on the 15th, and perhaps I can take those special pictures then. The theater opens at 11 AM, so I need to get there to secure a good seat. Or else I will be stuck in the back until those people leave.

Anyways, here is a last look at the temple that I stayed for a night. Great experience. I can’t say enough good things about it. It is one of the thing that you must do before you die, and I am glad that I did everything I could to secure the experience even though it wasn’t going to happen. Now I can tell people that, I have lived in a temple once!

Koyasan Fukuchiin Verdict:

★★★★★

When I was going to the bus station with my luggage at a crossroad, there was a car that was supposed to cross. Normally, I wait for the car to go first, so, you know, I won’t risk being crushed to death. Especially in China, if you don’t yield the right of way to the cars, there is a high probability of you being crushed by vengeful drivers. At this specific crossroad, though, the driver stopped completely, and signaled that I walk first. I bowed, and ran across the road.

In California, we yield the right of way to the pedestrians as well; but most of the time we only yield when the pedestrian is already on the pavement. I am not one of those crazy drivers who would stop all the way to yield pedestrians who have not yet made their first step onto the pavement, even though there are cars behind you and didn’t see the pedestrian and would need to come to a screeching halt to avoid a crash. I hate those people.

But the point of this tangent is that, I think it is the specific atmosphere of this religious site, the whole of Koyasan, made that specific driver more pedestrian friendly. I am not saying that all drivers in Japan are nice. In fact, I’ve seen some jerk ones that didn’t yield the right of way to me even though I was already half way across the pedestrian crossing. But, it is nice to be respected by a moving vehicle at a crossroad. Just saying.

The trip back to Osaka was uneventful. By plan, I was supposed to be on my way back to China today after finishing my trip to Koyasan; but after seeing what I’ve seen on Day 11, can you blame me? The return trip was just the reverse of yesterday; take the bus to the cable car station, take the cable car to the train station, take the train station to a transfer hub, and reach Namba Station.

Did take a few photos inside the cable car though. It’s just cool.

After arriving at Namba Station, I headed straight to my hotel, which is not only cheap, but is basically right next to the station. It’s not the first time that I booked a hotel this cheap; I also did that on my second day in Kyoto, Day 7. The price was about the same, and so I figured that the hotel quality must be about the same. Oh boy.

Hotel name: Grampus Inn Osaka

Address: Namba Naka 1-13-18

Price: 306.45 RMB (43 USD)

Verdict: ★★☆☆☆

I got in at around 10 AM, so not close to the 3 PM check-in time that this hotel has. It also was raining for a bit, made the inside of the hotel look really dark. Correction, it’s not a hotel, it’s an inn. Did not know that when I booked on Ctrip, which called it a hotel in Chinese.

The translation confusion might be justified because in Chinese, we call “inns” as “旅馆”, which is “Ryokan” in Japanese. The app didn’t want to confuse Japanese Ryokans with the “inns”, so the app just called it a hotel.

When I walked in, I could almost smell something. It did not smell like cleanliness. I approached the front desk, told him that I will be staying for the night and wanted to leave my stuff here. When the staff took my passport, he copied it, returned my passport to me, and started to type on his cellphone. I knew what he was doing. He was using a translator; but I didn’t want to disturb him while he types on his phone. After a full 2 minutes, he showed his phone to me, and yes, he was on a translator. He was translating that the check-in time is at 3 PM so he will take my luggage and put it in my room when it is ready.

I told him that Japanese is fine, he smiled awkwardly, and gave me the key, an actual key, which requires you to insert it into the keyhole and turn it clockwise. The key was connected to a key holder that is the length of a cellphone, and heavy as well. He told me that the room will not be ready until 3 PM, so only use it then. I thanked him and walked out.

My next stop is Kosei Show Theater, after all, it’s the reason why I came all the way from Koyasan so early in the morning. I started to walk towards Namba Station, then it hit me: I am extremely hungry.

No shit, the vegan breakfast did not fill my stomach like I hoped it would. No meat, no meal, no deal. With breakfast being only rice and some vegetable, it’s only 10:30 AM and I was starving like crazy. Again, it’s 10:30 AM in the morning, so most restaurants aren’t open at that time. As I walked towards the shopping district near the station, I started to search for food but I could not find a single restaurant. The best I could do was a fried food on a stick. I walked past it, but couldn’t find anything else, so I had to walk back and get one.

It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad. It’s just average. It’s fish cakes, what more can you expect from fish cakes. After I finished with the food, I needed to find a place to dispose my trash. Japan is a wonderful country, with one slightly big downfall: there are no trashcans. I could not find a single trashcan along the way, so I had to walk back to the store where I bought the stick from and threw it there.

After my previous business, I went on my way back to my “hotel”. And holy shit what a “hotel” it was. It was true that they were nice enough to place my luggage into my room, but what a shitty room. There’s just one bed, one table, one chair, one TV, and that’s it. The furniture is so bad, that I have no words to describe them with. The room is clean, don’t get me wrong, but the quality of the room is in no way comparable to the same price as what I have paid for on Day 7. How bad? Well for starters, there is no lock on the door. The only thing that stops intruders from coming in is through a door chain, which didn’t seem strong enough. It was late, and I was tired, so I didn’t realize that the door knob itself locks from the inside; but it gave me such unsafe feelings.

The bathroom is not on the same level as the bedroom, and I am not making this up. The bathroom is 1 ft elevated from the bedroom, and you would need to literally climb up to reach the bathroom. There is no staircase, so when you open the bathroom door, you need to climb up. The shower head also uses the same water as the faucet, so yes, the water pressure was like shit. You are taking a shower using the water pressure from a bad faucet.

It was definitely not the best “hotel” experience that I’ve ever had, but it wasn’t too horrible like the time I was in Shenzhen. Still, I could stay a night at somewhere much better than what I had there, I just need to walk a little be further away.

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