Koya-san's history dates back to the year 816 A. D. when Kobo Daishi (a.k.a. Kukai, a.k.a. Saint Kobo), the key figure in the spread of Buddhism to Japan from China, settled on this remote mountaintop as a spiritual retreat. It later became the center for the Shingon ("True Teaching") sect of Buddhism, and now boasts more than a hundred temples, as well as the Okuno-in, the cemetery that stretches for several kilometers. The graves are ancient and sometimes astonishing - among them are graves for the casualties of Hideyoshi's failed invasion of Korea in the late 1500s!

One of the many Buddhist images here. It was customary to bury part of one's ashes here and part at one's home temple - so you can imagine that translates to lots and lots of graves. At the end of Okuno-in is a vault where it is said that Kobo still lives - not dead but reportedly meditating until the Day of Judgment (and yes, that sounds very Christian to me, too).