We had a nice group of 8 American tourists from Wahinton D.C. A Keihan highway bus directly connecting Kyoto and Koyasan arrived at Okunoinmae bus stop just on time at noon. In response to my suggestion, they took this bus for the first time to come to Koyasan from Kyoto JR station. Soon after their arrival, we transferred to a Nankai Koyasan bus to go to their temple, Muryoko-In. After dropping off their heavy baggage at the temple, we ate lunch at Hanabishi, a well-known local restaurant at Senjuinbashi. After lunch, we went to Ichinohashi by bus again to start our tour to walk on the 2-km pass in Okuno-in up to the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi, the founder of Shingon sect of esoteric Buddhism in Japan. They seemed to be quite impressed with the mysterious atmosphere created by hundreds of thousands of gravestones standing on both sides of the pass flanked by tall centuries-old cedar trees. Next day, 6 of them continued their journey to Kumano Kodo by taking a “Seichi Junrei “(=Pilgrimage to sacred sites) bus at Senjuinbashi, while other 2 members went back to Kyoto by taking the same Keihan highway bus at Okunoinmae.
