Okuno-in Temple & Dawn Chanting

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I got up early at early at 5:30 as although I’d missed out on staying at the Buddhist temple, I wanted to make the most of staying in the Buddhist town and see their chanting. At the top of the cemetery there was the Okuno-In temple, which I’d also visited the day before. When I arrived, I was just in time to see a group of three monks – the leader and then two others who bowed to a shrine and then picked up a box which two carried on a wooden stick.

They then walked up to the temple with the lead out front and the two with the box behind and I followed. At the temple, they sat and spent maybe 10 minutes preparing themselves with a few other monks and other people arriving to take part in the chants.

It was quite an amazing experience to stay and watch – I unfortunately didn’t get to see the end as had to start the long journey to Kyoto as I wanted to get there early to see a festival. It had definitely been worth the early start and I would have loved to be able to stay at a temple whilst in Koyasan but that will have to stay on the list as something to do in the future though.

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