Kôya-san 高野山

Mount Kôya / Berg Kôya

The temple mountain Kôya-san is located about 70 km south of Ôsaka City on an 860 m high mountain plateau above the forested slopes of the Kii Mountain Range in Wakayama prefecture. The remote site, consisting of many individual temples, is the centre of Shingon Buddhism and a place of pilgrimage for many thousands of pilgrims every year. The monastic settlement was founded as early as the 9th century by Kôbô Daishi, who is buried on Kôya-san. In the cemetery in the middle of an old cedar forest rest some high-ranking personalities of Japanese history.