Koyasan — The Sacred Mountain, a Shukubo Temple Stay and Okunoin Cemetery

The largest cemetery in Japan, with more than 200,000 graves and memorial stupas for samurai, lords, and notable figures, lining a cedar-forest path some 2 kilometres long where the trees are hundreds of years old. At the end lies the mausoleum of Kobo Daishi, who Shingon followers believe is still "in meditation". Before you reach it you pass through the Torodo (Lantern Hall), where over ten thousand lanterns burn without ever going out.

Danjo Garan is the first sacred temple complex Kobo Daishi laid out, and its standout is the Konpon Daito, a vermilion pagoda around 48 metres tall (the one in this photo). Inside, Buddhist statues and a mandala arrangement let you walk through the Shingon vision of the cosmos. The grounds are free to wander, but entering the pagoda itself costs around 500 yen.

The head temple and headquarters of the Koyasan branch of Shingon Buddhism. Inside are rooms decorated with sliding-screen paintings (fusuma) by the Kano school, and the most famous feature is the Banryutei rock garden — one of the largest in Japan, where rocks and raked white gravel form a pair of dragons swimming through a sea of clouds. They often serve tea and a sweet so you can sit and take in the garden.

The highlight that makes people climb the mountain to stay over — sleeping in a real temple on tatami mats, laying out your own futon, eating a shojin-ryori vegetarian dinner and breakfast. Many temples have their own bath or shared bathing room and a Japanese garden. In the morning you can join the prayer service and the goma fire ceremony on a voluntary basis. Read up on vegetarian/vegan options before you book.

The great vermilion gate on the western edge is Koyasan's original welcoming gateway — a two-storey wooden structure around 25 metres tall (the current building was rebuilt in 1705), with carved Nio guardian deities on either side. At sunset the light streaming through the gate is gorgeous, and on a clear day you can see the mountains stretching off into the distance. Free to walk through.

Home to more than ten thousand pieces of Koyasan's Buddhist art — statues, mandala paintings, and old scriptures, many of them National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties. Worth a stop if you want to understand the roots of Shingon art more deeply, either before or after you walk the temples themselves.