The temple is beautiful, and the room is super nice and spacious. There is also a beautiful garden. I was expecting some additional amenities and/or interactions with the monks to have a better experience, but there is nothing related to this. I have the impression there are temples around the area that are much better on this regards and this could contribute a lot to the overall experience. If you want to have dinner and/or breakfast please make reservation at least one day before check-in and make sure this is accepted by the property, otherwise you won’t be able to have dinner/breakfast if you request this during check-in. The morning ceremony was ok, but there is no minimum explanation at the beginning or end (at least in English) which could have been nice. Also, the room is extremely cold, so make sure you bring enough clothes to it. The onsen is a nice addition but nothing spectacular. Overall, it is ok but it could be improved a lot. There are some lessons you can take part of, but I joined the cemetery tour organized by another temple, so I don’t know if they were good. I have the impression that in Eko-in temple they were giving the guests more services as meditation sessions and this tour and additional explanations in English. Curfew is at 9 pm.
Excellent expérience d’une nuit dans un temple bouddhiste, à orientation hôtelière toutefois. La chambre était propre, dans le style japonais, avec un oreiller occidental et non en riz. Pas de douche dans la chambre mais un lavabo, les bains sont communs, non mixte, avec un bassin d’eau chaude, très propre, mais sans extérieur. Le repas végétalien, selon les pratiques bouddhistes était légèrement occidentalisé, ce aui était parfait et permettait de manger, tout en découvrant. La prière du matin permet de s’exercer à la méditation. Il est possible de consommer des sakés et vins locaux lors du repas du soir.
訪訪客There are many shokubos in Koyasan. If you don't understand Japanese, you could book through one through the shokubo association and they will just randomly assign one to you or one of those travel hotel websites (with limited selections). I stumbled upon Komyo-in website which has an OK english translation page and let me book direct. Most of the reviews are on google and i think it deserves one here. Communication: Mostly through google translate and it worked fine. The hospitality was great. Everything was well organised. Nothing was too much of a hassle. I stayed here for 2 nights. I wanted to do the cemetery night tour and the monk told me that he would wait for me and not lock the door if i returned pass the curfew hrs (9pm). I didn't think it would be a problem but they didn't want me to worry. Location: The temple is located just behind the Eko-in, where the night tour starts. It is also located near the bus-stop if you are coming from the koyasan cable station. Food: I ordered the breakfast and dinner on both nights. There were delicious and adequate for a standard portion. They have the larger portion selection. Room: Spacious as a solo traveler. They provided me a gas heater and it was warm enough when i was in the room. Tea and cookies were complimentary. Clearly, you have to utilise the public bath and toilet. Bath time was given for each gender. Atmosphere: It might be like the big temple but i really quite liked the small temple setting. I also participated the morning ritual one morning. Highly recommended.
PPinkozxcIt wasn't the most pleasant experience considering that the males n females had to share toilets and that some other rooms had private toilets n bath instead. And also the fact that the walls are super thin hence whomever is connected to your room if their loud or they don't like your voice volume than you might get kicked to the curb. It's a very frustrating experience for sure since it tests one's patience n ability to let go. It's training for the customers n monks alike. I met a Japanese friend here whom shared with me how rude the monks and the staff were to one another n I think that shows the quality of this place however we were pretty lucky as there was a male who spoke mandarin n a male who spoke English both quite well in this place n though the mandarin speaker was quite condescending towards the other monks, the English speaker was really nice n patient overall. He helped me out a lot since we couldn't communicate with the others n seemed to be the only customers that spoke English whom booked this place by ourselves, the others around seemed to have a guide n were usually in groups.
It's a unique experience n I recommend just staying for one night or going to the other temples. I went for the ajikan meditation at eko in temple n the service n cleanliness was on another level for sure. The food here was also really simple. Also a must see are the tomb area n the walk to kobold daishi temple. As a sensitive person, I felt the overwhelming love n presence and the cleanse of my heart of this amazing soul over there. To me, that was worth it. Remember to clean yourself with the water out front before going in.... and of course to the amazing fateful friendship that occurred for us with the jap-********* couple we met. It was the next fav of mine after the time spent in nara visitor center. That was truly magickal n how I wished we stayed longer there. But all was good cause the way I planned this trip made it so that we would have this fateful encounter to the end of our trip.