Okunoin: The Largest Cemetery in Japan, Part 2

 

After walking about two kilometers through the cemetery, you finally reach the temple grounds of Okunoin, in Koya, Wakayama. (There is a second entrance that allows you to bypass all of the walking and start close to the temple.)

I wish I knew what these pyramid-like structures were called.

 This grasshopper had been petrified. Overall, I was surprised by the lack of visible natural life in Okunoin, since it is essentially a forest that is thousands of years old.

 

A shishi that was tiny and cute like a French bulldog.

 

Amulets that you are not supposed to open up. 

At one point, you could send telegrams from here. This is incredible, considering that Koya is a town that is high up in the mountains, and Okunoin is at the edge of it.

Free tea had been prepared for visitors in these old-fashioned stoves.

This whole process seemed rather complicated, but apparently, you are supposed to make offerings and throw water at the statues to pray for departed family members.