Okunoin
奥之院（おくのいん）
Gobyō-bashi Bridge in Okunoin
Map
Details
Location
Mount Kōya, Wakayama Prefecture
CountryJapan
Coordinates34°13′3.71″N 135°36′8.92″E / 34.2176972°N 135.6024778°E / 34.2176972; 135.6024778
Websitehttps://www.koyasan.or.jp/meguru/sights.html#okunoin

Okunoin (Japanese: 奥之院) is a sacred site and cemetery on Mount Kōya, in the Wakayama Prefecture of Japan. Opened in 835 AD, it houses the mausoleum of Kūkai, founder of the Shingon school of esoteric Buddhism. It is considered the largest cemetery in Japan, with more than two hundred thousand graves and memorial monuments.[1][2]

The site

Located on the outskirts of the settlement of Koya, the cemetery spans over 2 km in length and is immersed in a forest of tall conifers. The earliest planting records of these trees, belonging predominantly to the genera Cryptomeria and Chamaecyparis, date back to 1012 AD. The area surrounding Kūkai's mausoleum was initially left to its wild state, but only a small area of natural forest remains nowadays, as a large portion of the vegetation was cut during the Meiji era, in the late 19th century.[3]

According to popular belief, after being laid in his mausoleum in 835 AD, Kūkai entered into an eternal samadhi (meditative trance) and is still alive on Mount Kōya, waiting for Maitreya, the Buddha of the future.[4] His resting place in Okunuin has since become a place of pilgrimage, and Buddhist monks bring him ritual offerings and meals twice a day.[1]

The cemetery

The entrance of the site is marked by the Ichi-no-hashi bridge. From there, a 2-km long sandō (walkway) paved with cobblestones guides the visitors to the mausoleum, passing through a site that holds more than 200,000 graves, of which a large number belong to monks and feudal lords.[1][5]

The Gobyō-bashi bridge marks the entrance to the inner sanctum of Okunoin. Here visitors pour water over the bronze statues of the Mizumuke Jizō, to pray for the souls of their ancestors.[6]

Kūkai's mausoleum

The path ends at Tōrō-dō, the main hall of worship, built directly in front of the Gobyō, Kūkai's mausoleum. Over ten thousand lanterns, donated by pilgrims and worshippers, are lit in the hall in perpetuity;[7] two of these are said to have been burning without pause for more than nine hundred years.[6] In 1984, 50,000 statues were donated for the 1150th anniversary of Kūkai's burial and are located in the hall basement. The mausoleum itself, located behind the Tōrō-dō, is a sacred place with no access to the public.[7]

Modern section

A second entrance to the site is located in front of the Okunoin-mae bus stop, leading to a more recent section of the cemetery.[7] Here a large number of corporate tombs can be found, bought by Japanese companies for their employees and their families. The first one was built by Kōnosuke Matsushita, founder of Panasonic, in 1938. Several of these monuments attract the attention of the visitors, such as a memorial in honor of the termites killed by an extermination company. Another example is the one from ShinMaywa Industries, with a large-scale model of the Saturn V rocket that carried Apollo 11 to the Moon, although the company had no connection to the mission.[8]

Gallery

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Okunoin.
  1. ^ a b c Graham, Adam H (March 17, 2016). "The eerie grave of 200,000 monks". BBC Travel. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  2. ^ Zappaterra, Y. (2022). Cities of the Dead: The world's most beautiful cemeteries. Frances Lincoln. pp. 189–190. ISBN 978-0-7112-6579-0. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  3. ^ Collett, Brian Richard; Abe, Daishu (March 31, 1987). "Koyasan: A Demonstration of the Compatibility of Man, Nature and Art" (PDF). Bulletin of the University of Osaka Prefecture. 39: 43. doi:10.24729/00009315.
  4. ^ Casal, U. A. (1959), The Saintly Kōbō Daishi in Popular Lore (A.D. 774-835); Asian Folklore Studies 18, p. 139 (hagiography)
  5. ^ "Okunoin Temple". Travel Japan. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Oku-no-in". Lonely Planet. October 29, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c "Okunoin Temple". Japan Guide. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  8. ^ Pollack, Andrew (September 8, 1993). "Koyasan Journal; For Japan Inc., Company Rosters That Never Die". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 31, 2019. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
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