Tourism in the Heart of Shingon Buddhism

What do you imagine when you hear the word, "monk"? Shaven heads and robes? Days filled with chanting and meditation? A calm, spiritual lifestyle?

In Kōyasan, a remote Buddhist town in the mountains of Japan, the monks are active in both the spiritual and touristic realms. At temple lodges (J. shukubo), the monks essentially act as spiritual caretakers of the temples and lodge staff. Part of their duties are to make the visitors' beds, serve Vegetarian Buddhist meals (J. shojin ryori), refill hot water kettles, and deliver toothbrushes, towels, and bathrobes (J. yukata). The monks in Eko-in, one of the temple lodges I stayed at, were particularly rushed, serving anywhere around 50 guests a night. Their running footsteps echoed throughout the hallways before and after mealtimes. That being said, I knew about this unique opportunity to experience religious life in a very upfront and eye-opening way, but it also felt replete with tourism.

Something I wrote in my journal during the first morning at a temple lodge: Thump thump thump, footsteps coming down the hallway. Knock knock, “すみませんお邪魔します (excuse me, sorry to interrupt you)”. Our fusuma door slides open and the monk from the morning ceremony, who, thirty minutes earlier, donned an elegant, large blue robe with intricate designs, now kneeled on our tatami floor, wearing a two-piece grey set and a plastic earpiece, looking like a cleaning staff of a hotel. He hurriedly unloaded four red trays full of food before bowing and leaving our room again.

You may be wondering, Why study tourism and Buddhism in the first place? Since the 1950s, Buddhism’s popularity has skyrocketed with the arrival of spiritual leaders in the West, such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Thich Nhat Hanh of Vietnam, or Shunryu Suzuki of Japan. I also became interested in Buddhism from my encounters with it in the United States. With this increasing interest Buddhism, people tend to go to the countries of origin for further study or practice. However, the spaces surrounding places of origin have changed since the proliferation of Buddhist teachings and will keep evolving. Kōyasan is no exception, attracting visitors from a vast range of cultures while still maintaining traditions for over 1,200 years. Colorado College Religion Professor, David Gardiner, notes that the modern town of Kōyasan has evolved into a tourist destination, while still being a “grand repository of cultural history.” I found this juxtaposition of tourism and sacredness striking.

Background on Kōyasan: It was founded in the 9th century by a monk named Kūkai, posthumously known as Kobo Daishi. Kūkai was a prodigy child, sent to study in the capital from a young age, and then after he studied Chinese Esoteric Buddhism from 804-806 under the Chinese master, Huigo. He learned what took most students decades upon decades to learn, at an astonishing speed, in less than two years. Upon returning to Japan, Kūkai formed a sect of Buddhism called Shingon, established countless temples and monasteries, and left a lineage of Buddhism that survived for over a thousand years. This legendary figure in Japanese history, who singlehandedly contributed a plethora of cultural riches, now rests eternally in the Oku-no-in graveyard of Kōyasan.

There is extensive research on Kōyasan, Shingon Buddhism, and Kūkai, but a topic much less explored is where tourism inserts itself in this sacred religious context that carries centuries of history. The question I wished to explore is, “What is the role of tourism in Kōyasan?” The questions I wished to explore in more detail can be separated into three different categories:

1. Extrapersonal  
   1. Does tourism decrease the perceived sacredness of Kōyasan by locals? 
2. Interpersonal 
   1. How do locals of Kōyasan (including but not limited to lodge owners, monks, residents) feel towards the tourists?
   2. How do tourists feel about being in a sacred space?
   3. Who comes to Kōyasan (pilgrims, tourists, or a hybrid, mix)? 
3. Personal
   1. How does my identity as a Japanese person and someone who is interested in Buddhism influence my point of view as a researcher?
   2. How do people react to me as a visitor?

Methodology: I stayed in Kōyasan for four nights and five days, finding lodging in 2 temple lodges (Eko-in and Daien-in). I followed an ethnographic research method, focusing on interviews/conversations, direct observation, and physical documents/records. For the interviews and conversations, I had the pleasure of talking to some monks, fellow visitors, the abbot of Daien-in, as well as employees in various restaurants, museums, and information centers. Observations took place in numerous places, including morning ceremonies at both temple lodges, an Ajikan meditation session, Kōyasan Tourist Information Center, The Danjo Garan Complex, Kongobuji temple, Oku-no-in, Reihokan Museum, Kōyasan Digital Museum, etc.

Extrapersonal findings: Does tourism decrease the perceived sacredness of Kōyasan by locals?

• First, how can we try to define a complex term like sacredness? In Japan, Kōyasan is considered one of the most sacred places in the entire country, with a rich religious tradition as well as a breathtaking cemetery that is the resting place of many legendary figures in Japanese history. For the sake of this project, I approached this word to mean the depth of the history and religious practices that have taken place in Kōyasan for over 1,200 years.
• I learned that the “sacredness” of the place, was not diminished in any way by tourists, for several reasons.
  • First, most of Shingon Buddhist practices are protected and secret unless you progress within the tradition to a higher level. Thus, when you visit Kōyasan, you only really get a glimpse of the depth of the teachings, history, and practices.
  • Second, in most cases, the tourist path is well traveled, but shallow. Most people spend between one to three days going to the most popular locations, such as Danjo Garan Complex and Oku-no-in. When you only go to these spaces, there’s a certain level of having your experience be curated. For example, when I went to the Danjo Garan complex, you can’t enter most of the buildings, and people are not offering visitors “teachings” within this tradition, while I've seen other temples in other traditions being more open to actively teaching people. That is to say, coming to Kōyasan as a visitor, for only a few days, feels like walking on a well-worn path that is only as deep as you try to make it.
  • Finally, the simple fact that Kōyasan is the burial site of Japan’s heroes and legends and home to a religious tradition over a thousand years old cannot be taken away, no matter how many tourists come.

• Interesting Development over the Years: According to the abbot of Daien-in, Kōyasan has had visitors for years, but it is only now that it is becoming more international. So, there have always been visitors to Kōyasan, but they did not decrease the sacredness, rather, they may have added to it. Originally, families of deceased persons would come to stay in the temple lodges to witness the Buddhist ceremonies for the afterlife, or to visit their ancestors graves on their death anniversary. Now, there are more non-Japanese people visiting Kōyasan. As such, it may be more of a suitable question to ask, Do the international crowd that visits Kōyasan decrease the perceived sacredness of Kōyasan?
  • The international audience Kōyasan attracts (according the abbot of a Daien-in) already knows a significant amount about Japanese culture and history, thus, doesn't disturb the scene (at least not too much). Or, they learned about it online (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram), so they know how to get around by themselves somewhat. This contrasts the tourist scene in Kyoto and Nara, which is constantly flocked by foreigners who tend to be disruptive. Additionally, geographically, Kōyasan is harder to get to, tucked in the mountains of Wakayama, requiring multiple trains and a cable car to get to from the general Osaka area. Therefore, even though Kōyasan has always had Japanese visitors, now there is a more self-selected international audience that comes to Kōyasan.

Interpersonal findings:

• Who visits Kōyasan? Pilgrims, tourists, as well as families with funeral services visit Kōyasan. Pilgrims tend to have an obvious appearance since they are wearing a white garb and a long walking stick. There are many tourists, Japanese and international. There truly is a wide variety of reasons people visit. One night in the communal bath, I met a woman from Shikoku who came with a photography club and a German teacher who spontaneously decided to come during her sabbatical year of world travel!
• How do they behave in religious services? I attended the morning ceremony in two temple lodges, Daien-in and Eko-in, and observed very different behaviors. At Eko-in, the shukubo with many foreigners, people took photos and videos during the whole ceremony, while at Daien-in (mostly Japanese people) no one took photos. The ceremony at Eko-in also included, goma, which is a “picturesque” fire ceremony with blazing orange flames. Daien-in, did not. Therefore, how the visitors act depends on which temple lodge you go to, and what audience the temple is expecting.  
• Does it seem like people in Kōyasan want more visitors to come? Yes, there were many observations, documents, and conversations that alluded to this.
  • Multiple languages available: Perhaps most obvious, there are multiple tourist centers, with pamphlets coming in multiple languages.
  • The Koyasan Digital Museum has headsets offering translations in around five other languages!
  • The Koyasan Shukubo Association offers day-long walking tour headsets for rent in several different languages.
  • The Koyasan Tourist Information Center has a native English-speaking staff member.
  • At Eko-in there is an English guide and a Japanese guide to the lodge.
  • Infrastructure of lodging and transport:
  • Lodging: There are more than 50 temples that provide lodging for visitors. The notion of being able to be served Buddhist cuisine by monks and stay overnight in a temple is what attracts many visitors from overseas (and within Japan!).
  • Transport: There are many guides online that show tourists how to arrive to Koyasan, stressing taking the cable car from Gokurakubashi station to Koyasan station on the top of the mountain. As soon as you get to Koyasan station, there is someone guiding people to the correct bus that connects you’re your temple lodge.
  • Activities and entertainment:
  •  The Kōyasan Digital Museum  hosts an engaging 45 minute virtual reality experience with beautiful and detailed graphics. It provides an incredible introduction into Kōyasan’s history and the details and angles of the Danjo Garan complex that are difficult to see in person. After the exhibition, we were asked to fill out a survey, on which one of the questions was, “Did this exhibit increase your fascination with Kōyasan?” which indicates that an underlying goal of this museum is to increase interest in Kōyasan.
  • There was also an opportunity to do sutra copying (J. shakyo). At the Daishi Kyokai, you can trace a sutra with a calligraphy pen. The person at the front desk mentioned that many foreigners can do it, because you do not need to know how to write Kanji since all you need to do it trace it.
  • In the morning there is a Buddhist ceremony offered by your temple lodge, which is not entertainment, but an actual ceremony. Nonetheless, it is something that many people go to, with a kind of tourist mindset to watch, not participate.
  • In the evening, there is an Oku-no-in night tour. Interestingly, the price for English tour is around $10 more than the Japanese tour.
• Does the abbot of Daien-in want more people to visit Koyasan? The abbot he talked about how a lot of people don’t know about Kōyasan, and only visit Kyoto or Nara when in Japan. Therefore, he wants more people to know about Kōyasan and Shingon Buddhism, not necessarily to do serious study, but simply to plant the seed for people to know that such a place exists. He also referenced how Dharmasala has courses for tourists and visitors, and how it would be great if Kōyasan had something similar. 
• Who are these monks and what is their story? The monks at Daien-in (and other shukubo, I assume) attend Kōyasan University. Working in a shukubo is a part of their experiential education and training. It is like a part time job, but it is not just a "side hustle", rather an integral part of their studies that opens them to the wider world while practicing and studying.

Personal findings: Personal Impact and Reflections

• Occasional Japanese vs. International difference in treatment: While this may just be my experience, I felt that Kōyasan is more open to foreigners than to Japanese, perhaps because Japanese tend to be more reserved than foreigners. Since I look Japanese, I found it difficult to strike up conversations with cafe owners, monks, gift shop workers, etc. because it felt like they were not expecting a conversation with me. During some moments, I felt like people would be more curious about why I am here, if I was a White foreigner instead of an Asian person. It left me wondering if other people had similar experiences? Or if foreigners experience the opposite feeling?  
• Personal conversations and realizations: In the end, one of my personal questions was whether the academic pursuit of my interests would enhance them or ruin them for me. During a wonderful conversation with the abbot of Daien-in, he recalled that a mantra of his university years was to find something you like and make it a thread of your life. Even if you have a million interests and don’t know what to do, all you need to do is find one thing you like and keep doing it. Somehow, this hit me when I heard it, and I took this advice to heart!
  • I also deeply appreciated the abbot's kindness and generosity of his time. He took an hour during his busy day to spend an hour talking with me, a university student, about my questions. He offered keen insights and heart advice, opening me up to the part of Kōyasan that is far more than tourist locations.

Further implications: In the end, this explorations rasied more questions than answers, including, "How did the social and political landscape of 9th century Japan allow for the flourishing of Shingon Buddhism?" and "What was Kukai's life like?"

Overall, Kōyasan is an incredibly complex place that is worthy of visit and study. Not only is it over 1,200 years old, the home to the largest graveyard of Japan, but also a rich space where the old and the new dance alongside and enhance one another. This intertwining between the sacred and the tourist, the historic and the new, is interesting to explore as Buddhism grows in the United States, and all over the world.

Thank you for reading!

Sources: Gardiner, David. “‘Mandala, Mandala on the Wall: Variations of Usage in Shingon Tradition," Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 19/2, 1996, 245-279.” In Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 19, no. 2 (1996): 245–79.