My visit to Kurama-yama

It's been a week and a half since I returned from Japan. The trip came on a bit quickly, and plans came together fast - no one was more surprised that I went than me! The main reason to go was to visit my girlfriend Yoko's parents. She's been living here for almost three years and this was her first opportunity to go back, so she was really happy (as was I). Before flying to Fukuoka in the southern island of Kyushu to see them, we spent our first day there in Kyoto to go on a sort of pilgrimage to see one of the most important Reiki locations in the world.

Kuramayama (Mt. Kurama) is the mountain where Usui-sensei (the founder of Reiki) spent his 21-day period meditating and fasting. At the end of the 21 days it is said he had an enlightening experience. So excited at what had happened, he hurried down the mountain, and somewhere along the way tripped and fell, hurting himself. He instinctively put his hands on the injured area and they quickly healed. Thus he realized that he had the ability to heal, and for the next 4 years would build on his philosophy of self-development and healing for others.

James Deacon has a great article about the various historical events that have happened at Kurama. http://www.aetw.org/reiki_history.html

I took a ton of pictures while there, so the following is a photo-journal of our trip.

The tiny train station of Demachiyanagi. It's about 20 minutes to Kurama station. It was about 6:00am at this time, and we were getting hungry, so we popped into the local supermarket (amazingly open 24hrs) and bought some of Yoko's favorite - onigiri (rice balls).








Here she is enjoying the first bite.



Here we are arriving at Kurama station.



The rural village at the foot of Kurama is beautiful, and you can see the simplicity that these people live with.
















Just outside the station, next to the parking lot there is this statue of a Tengu of Kuramayama. If you read James Deacon's article that I linked above, he explains what the Tengu are and why they're important to Kurama.















I don't know what these things are. They're in front of lots of shops, although usually smaller. Hang in there, we're almost to the mountain.









Just past the two strange creatures, we came to the steps leading up to the entrance of the temple complex. It always amazes me about Japan how such sacred and holy places are just part of everything else. In this picture, there's a house on the right, gift shop on the left, hotel further on, and at the end of the street the steps. Excitement builds...







Here I am on the steps leading up to the gate. We're so close!

To the right is a statue guarding the entrance.
















A sign at the entrance. Below is a picture of one of the two guardians. I'm not sure why, but these are always behind a wire fence and hard to see, but they're extremely menacing.















There was a hole in one of the pieces of mesh, allowing for this rare look at one of the faces of the guardian.

Below is the fountain inside the entrance. We saw three or four of these on the way up. You're supposed to wash your hands with the wooden ladel provided. This statue was donated fairly recently by some kind of group.






I'd been using the flash in the other pictures. Here you can see what the path looked like for real at around 6:45am. These lanterns were still lit when we got there, which was beautiful.














To the right is yet another gate with a torii in front.

Just through the gate was this enormous tree along with another torii in the traditional red colour.

To the right is the next part of the path, as the rising sun breaks through the trees.















After winding up the path we came to this gorgeous view of the mountain range in the distance.

Here is another station for handwashing with an intricate iron dragon.




As we made our way up the path we could hear a few of the monks chanting from above. They began at this temple on the left in what I guess were morning prayers. As we continued, they stayed ahead of us, stopping at every shrine to say more prayers. You can see from the pictures what a beautiful place this is, but try to imagine the same with a background noise of cicadas humming, birds chirping, and monks chanting.

Below is a view of the mountains and the roof of one of the temples that we just pass



This was taken from the main temple complex, but before turning towards it we had to stop and wonder at the spectacular view.








I took almost exactly the same picture below the first time I was on Kurama 3 years ago. At the time I had no idea what Kurama was significant for as I only started studying Reiki a few months after. It was great to be back with full appreciation for this place.


Here we are in front of the main temple complex.











Here you can see the temple as well as the stone pattern on the ground in front of it. This spot is said to be an energy centre and is where everyone who comes to experience Reiki stops.

I talked to my teacher before coming here and he explained that some people have described different types of energy at different times of day. I knew we wouldn't be able to stay long enough to play with this, so I asked if there was anything else I could do. He mentioned that when he was there his group had noticed that different types of energies could be felt by facing different directions on the symbol. I decided to give it a try.

Below I am standing on the symbol and trying to send all the good energy to my family, friends, and clients. One client told me that for some reason he had thought of me out of the blue and had felt some kind of energy shift in him. We didn't figure it out exactly, but it seems to correspond to when I was on Kurama, which excited us both.



To the right here you can see the stone tile pattern. Below is a closeup.


















As I mentioned, my teacher had mentioned that facing different directions called up different energies. I definitely found this to be the case and I'd like to share my experiences. Assume that in the above picture North, on the top, is pointing towards the temple.

Facing north: The energy facing the temple was very subtle, and light, but very positive
Facing west: The moment I turned I felt the energy become more electric and tingly, a sharp contrast.
Facing south: Another noticeable shift - this time the energy shot up from underneath me and I immediately felt very grounded, a strong connection to the earth.
Facing east: The energy facing this way felt very light, and the first thing I thought of was clouds. A feeling of airiness and almost floating swept over me.

When I faced back to the temple I felt the same full energy only a little stronger this time.

The experience was truly amazing, and I've been practicing recalling those different energies with a lot of success. My sessions since I've returned have definitely been different, and it's exciting to be playing with this new gift.


This is the view facing away from the temple.

Here I am lighting a stick of incense as a sign of thanks. It's hard to tell from just images, but Kurama is a truly full-sensory experience. The smell of incense, the hum of cicadas, the chanting of the monks, and the sun blazing down. A picture might be worth a thousands words, but that's still far from the full experience.













One more view of the beautiful hill and mountains below the temple. One of those mountains in the back is Mt. Hiei, another historically significant location for Reiki and Japanese history in general.


There are more pictures which I'll publish later, once I get some signs translated, but that's basically it for our Reiki pilgrimage.

I hope you've enjoyed the pictures. Feel free to share them - all I ask is that you do not alter them in any way.

Enjoy!