Since ancient times, pilgrims have ventured into heavily forested mountains in Wakayama Prefecture to visit Koyasan, the headquarters of the Shingon sect of esoteric Buddhism. This is regarded as one of the most sacred places in Japan, lying in an alpine basin at an altitude of about 800 meters, and it attracts more than 1 million worshippers and tourists every year.
Admiring the awe-inspiring monastic buildings and outstanding natural beauty there, you will see why Koyasan is loved by so many people and why it was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List last July.
Legend has it that more than a thousand years ago -- at a port in Ningbo, China -- Kukai (later to be known as Kobo Daishi) threw a sankosho (a symbolic Buddhist pestle), which had been given to him by his master Keika, into the sky toward the east, with a wish that it would land in the ideal place for him to begin preaching Shingon Buddhism. On returning to Japan, Kukai looked for the sankosho and finally found it hanging on a pine tree in Koyasan in the year 816. After more than 1,200 years, the pine tree is still revered by monks and visited by many tourists daily.