is a pilgrimage route on the Kii Peninsula in the

Kansai region The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropoli ...

of Japan. It begins at the Jison-in temple in the town of

Kudoyama 270px, Jison-in temple is a town located in Ito District, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 3,996 in 1770 households and a population density of 91 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geogra ...

on the south bank of the

Kinokawa River The is a river in Nara Prefecture, Nara and Wakayama Prefecture in Japan. It is called in Nara. It is 136 km long and has a watershed of 1,660 km². The river flows from Mount Ōdaigahara to the west. It pours into Kii Channel at Waka ...

and extends twenty-four kilometres to Mount Kōya, or

Kongōbu-ji is the ecclesiastic head temple of Kōyasan Shingon Buddhism, located on , Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. Its name means ''Temple of the Diamond Mountain Peak''. It is part of the " Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range ...

Temple, the ecclesiastical headquarters of the Kōyasan sect of

Shingon Buddhism Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra. Kn ...

in the town of Kōya. The path is a National Historic Site and is also part of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located on the Kii Peninsula in Japan. Selection criteria The locations and paths for this heritage site were based on their historical and modern i ...

. The area is also within the .

Route

The Kōyasan chōishi-michi is claimed to be the route created by

Kūkai Kūkai (; 27 July 774 – 22 April 835Kūkai was born in 774, the 5th year of the Hōki era; his exact date of birth was designated as the fifteenth day of the sixth month of the Japanese lunar calendar, some 400 years later, by the Shingon se ...

when he first established Kongōbu-ji in 819 AD. The name of the route comes from a series of stone guideposts shaped in the form of a stupa with a height of three meters, located at distances of one ''chō'' apart, or approximately every 109 meters. A total of 216 of these stone guideposts were placed. Of these, 180 were on the 22 kilometer path from Jison-in to the Danjō Garan,and a further 36 were erected on the further four kilometres to

's mausoleum in the Okunoin. In addition, there are four additional markers, one for every 36 ''chō'' (corresponding to one ''ri'').

History

The guideposts were originally wooden, and had to be frequently replaced due to exposure to the elements. During the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

, a priest of Mount Kōya obtained donations from the

Imperial Family A royal family is the immediate family of King, kings/Queen regnant, queens, Emir, emirs/emiras, Sultan, sultans/Sultana (title), sultanas, or raja/rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the ...

and a number of leading warlords, and began replacing these wooden markers with

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

five-tiered stupas over a 20 year period, with the project completed in 1285. They are engraved with their number in the sequence from Danjō Garan, as well as the seed syllable of one of the divinities in the Taizōkai

Mandala A mandala ( sa, मण्डल, maṇḍala, circle, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for e ...

, for the first 180, or the Kongōkai

, for the remainder,along with the name of the donor, the date, and the votive purpose of the donor. Of the original 216 guideposts, 179 remain in situ.

Gallery

Koyasan Choishimichi1.jpg, Kōyasan chōishi-michi Koyasan Choishimichi 02.JPG, Chōishi No.1

References

External links

*
Chōishi-michi - homepage

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koyasan Choishi-Michi World Heritage Sites in Japan Tourist attractions in Wakayama Prefecture History of Wakayama Prefecture Historic Sites of Japan Japanese pilgrimages Hiking trails in Japan Kudoyama, Wakayama Katsuragi, Wakayama Kōya, Wakayama

Route

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links