Religion, A Thing of Beauty...

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Religious places in Japan top the charts for the most beautiful places in the world, in my opinion. Even the smallest road side shrine adds beauty to the area around it. Not only are the structures themselves beautiful in construction and shape, but they so beautifully mold the nature surrounding them into something truly magical.

Although surveys and studies have proven that the Japanese as a whole do not consider themselves religious, and instead pass off their "religious" activities as merely "tradition", there is something truly wonderful about the structures that they built, in many instances, hundreds of years ago. These shrines and temples that tourists and followers alike visit everyday, are so well aligned with the nature that surrounds them. Two that I think are particularly well situated in nature, are Koya-San and Fushimi Inari.

"Kôyasan is home to an active monastic center founded twelve centuries ago by the priest Kûkai (posthumously known as Kôbô Daishi) for the study and practice of Esoteric Buddhism. It is the headquarters of the Kôyasan sect of Shingon Buddhism, a faith with a wide following throughout Japan. Situated on a small plain at the top of Mount Kôya is the sacred area known as the Danjô Garan, a complex of temples, halls, pagodas and Buddhist statuary that welcome visitors to this serene and hallowed place" (Koyasan Homepage).

The way the graves in Koyasan's ancient forest harmonize so well with the trees that rise above them is beyond stunning. Although many people may come to Koyasan purely for pleasure rather than religious reasons, appreciating the beauty of the mountain top and the harmony of man with nature is something that few would be able to go without doing.

Fushimi Inari displays a different sort of beauty. Instead of naturally aged stone graves lining a stunningly beautiful path in the woods, the Tori of Fushimi Inari carve a path into the mountain that accentuates the mountain's natural lifts and falls, while the bright orange Tori separate the path from the forest and intertwine the surrounding nature with the shrine. Although many people come to pray at the small family-owned shrines on the mountain, others come to see the beauty of the mountain and challenge it's height so that they can gives thanks at the top.