Wakayama

This past weekend was my first trip while in Japan this year. We went to Wakayama (as the title suggests) which is actually on the main island of Japan (Honshu). We actually almost didn’t make it there the first day because we couldn’t find the ferry in the morning, lol. We were in like a 5-10 min vacinity the whole time, but couldn’t actually find it. The signs were not the best. We asked for directions from this one guy and he got us to a ferry terminal, but it was the wrong one. Finally, with only like 5-10 mins before the ferry was supposed to leave, we made it there and got on safely. We were the second to last car to get on the ferry, lol. Pretty crazy. Here are some pictures from the drive there and the ferry ride (the first is the same ferry we were on except going the other way).

That last one there was me, lol. It was cold on the water in the early morning. I think it was like 6am. So when we got to Wakayama we drove another few hours to this open air onsen (public bath) that was right on the beach and relaxed there and then drove another couple hours up into the mountains where we went to Koyasan which is on a mountain surrounded by other mountains above the clouds. It was really pretty. Although when we were going through the clouds it was suuuuper foggy and scary because the roads were windy and narrow with cars going both ways. Here are some pictures of that.

That second to last one is Marisa and that last one is me (or at least a silhouette of me). Anyway, we got to Koyasan at night and then spent the whole next day walking around and seeing everything. Koyasan is a small place on top of the mountain built in respect of the beginnings of this one school of Buddhism. So it’s one temple after another and a whole lot of history. There was this one place, not exactly a grave yard, but a memorial place with monuments and markers everywhere for like a 20 minute walk and at the end, there is a bridge that once you cross, you aren’t allowed to take pictures anymore because you are in the place that the founder of that school of buddhism is. He is said to still be there meditating and people bring offerings of food and stuff for him. Here are some pictures around Koyasan.

That’s me on the bridge in that last one. Pretty isn’t it? The video above was at the end of the cemetery place. There was a line of statues and a line of people in front of them to splash water on all of them. I’m not sure why exactly, maybe to purify them or something, but there it is. Anyway, that was our trip to Wakayama. Fun times!