The Eternal Tetsuya

Episode 47

The Grim is opening the gate deep in the forested mountains of Wakayama Prefecture lies a sacred realm suspended between worlds. Entering Okunoin Cemetery located at Mount Koya isn't merely Japan's most hallowed burial ground—it's a living testament to 1,200 years of unbroken spiritual devotion where the boundary between life and death seems remarkably thin.

The journey begins where modern Japan recedes. After a bullet train and local railway, visitors ascend 800 meters by funicular into what feels like another dimension. Crossing the First Bridge marks your departure from the realm of the living as you enter a two-kilometer path winding beneath towering cedars past over 200,000 graves and memorials.

What makes Okunoin transcendent isn't just its scale but its remarkable intersection of history and belief. Here lies Kukai (Kobo Daishi), the founder of Shingon Buddhism who never "died" but entered eternal meditation in 835 CE. Two lanterns have reportedly burned without pause for 900 years in the Torodo (Hall of Lanterns) before his mausoleum, where monks still bring meals twice daily.

The cemetery reads like a physical timeline of Japanese history. Feudal rivals Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin face each other in eternal standoff. The three great unifiers—Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu—rest among poets like Matsuo Basho. Five-ringed stone towers represent Buddhist cosmology, while Jizō statues wearing red bibs watch over departed children.

Strangely, modernity has crept into this ancient sanctuary. Corporate memorials stand alongside monuments to termites and even a replica Saturn V rocket. Local legends add another layer of mysticism—venomous snakes sealed by Kukai, a well that predicts your death if your reflection is absent, and stone steps that promise rebirth if climbed without falling.

Have you ever wandered among the dead and felt more alive? Subscribe to join us next time as we open another gate on the Grimm and explore history's most fascinating burial grounds.

The Grave Grind:

https://tabelog.com/en/wakayama/A3001/A300103/30002123/