DAY 1: OSAKA OR KYOTO - KOYASAN (D)

Check out of your accommodation and leave large luggage with reception. Bring a smaller bag with a change of clothes, toiletries, any medications and valuables to carry with you. Catch a train from either Osaka or Kyoto to Koyasan. On arrival take the cable car up the mountainside to the Koyasan cable car station then take the bus to your Temple accommodation.

This evening you might like to experience a meditation session with a Buddhist monk (optional extra) then enjoy Shojin Ryori, a delicious traditional vegetarian meal. Settle in for the night or take a night tour of the Okuno-in Cemetery (optional extra).

DAY 2: KOYASAN - HIDAKA (B)

For those that like to get up early you might like to take a meditation session with a Buddhist monk (optional extra).

This morning enjoy traditional vegetarian meal for breakfast, check out of your accommodation and catch the bus or walk to Okuno-in Cemetery. Okuno-in is said to be the place where Kukai entered an eternal meditation. There are some 200,000 monuments and gravestones of deceased daimyo (feudal samurai lords), and other memorial statues lining a two kilometre path through the forest. Although it is a cemetery, the place has a mystical ambiance that is strikingly beautiful. Be sure to arrive in time to experience the daily morning ritual at 10:30am where golden-robed monks prepare a meal for Kobo Daishi as part of a ritual that involves blessing food placed in a covered wooden box and carrying it up the temple stairs to the mausolea. Wander through the cemetery and discover monuments that many of Japan’s largest corporations have paid extravagant fees for huge marble monuments to be erected to honor deceased employees. Some are marble statues in the shape of the products the companies produce.

Following your visit to Okuno-in catch the bus to the Kongobu-ji Temple, the head temple of the Shingon School of Buddhism (the sect founded by Kukai). A designated national treasure. it is the oldest building in Koyasan. Enjoy a self-guided visit (own expense).

Catch the bus to the Koyasan cable car station and take the cable car down the mountainside to Gokurakubashi Station. Take the train to Hashimoto Station and change to the JR line to Wakayama City. On arrival check in to your accommodation.

DAY 3: HIDAKA (BD)

After breakfast check students out of the accommodation and make your way to a local meeting point to meet Farm Stay hosts. Students will be transported to their Farm Stay accommodation.

DAY 4: HIDAKA (BLD)

Farmstay activities at local farm in Wakayama area (all meals included).

DAY 5: HIDAKA - OSAKA OR KYOTO (BLD)

After breakfast students will continue with their Farm Stay activities with their hosts. After lunch students will be dropped off by their Farm Stay hosts at a drop off point. Make your way back to your accommodation in Osaka or Kyoto.