World Heritage Site in Japan / Koyasan Part-2 / Who Made Koyasan?

As I mentioned in our previous blog on March 8th, 2016,

I visited temples on Koyasan

( registered in the UNESCO World Heritage sites on July 7th, 2004)

to take videos of a tree-planting ceremony.

 

Do you know who made Koyasan?

Kobo Daishi did. The name, Kobo Daishi is shigo (posthumous name) of the priest Kukai.

Kobo Daishi (Kukai) (774-835) is the founder of Shingon Buddhism.

 

A young Kobo Daishi (Kukai) discovered the site on Mount Koya

and he wanted to use it as a training ground for esoteric Buddhism.

So he built Kongobuji Temple on Koyasan.

 

As I mentioned in our previous blog,

Koyasan is the area of mountains from Wakayama Prefecture to the south of Osaka.

There is no mountain officially called “Koyasan” even “san” means a mountain in Japanese.

*For more notes about Koyasan, please check our previous blog,

The UNESCO World Heritage Sites -Koyasan-

He built Kongobuji Temple on such high mountains which are very isolated from the city,

so trainee monks and visitors were able to concentrate the Buddhist training

such as meditation, reading sutras and everything between.

 

For sure, it is very quiet so it’s a perfect place for anyone to meditate even just by visiting.

 

 

T.F