Mount Kōya

Mount Kōya (高野山, Kōya-san) is the name of mountains in Wakayama Prefecture to the south of Osaka. Also, Kōya-san is a modifying word for Kongōbu-ji (金剛峯寺). There is no mountain officially called Kōya-san (高野山) in Japan.

First settled in 819 by the monk Kūkai, Mt. Kōya is primarily known as the world headquarters of the Kōyasan Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism. Located in an 800 m high valley amid the eight peaks of the mountain (which was the reason this location was selected, in that the terrain is supposed to resemble a lotus plant), the original monastery has grown into the town of Kōya, featuring a university dedicated to religious studies and 120 temples, many of which offer lodging to pilgrims. The mountain is home to the following famous sites:

Koyasan (novel)

Koyasan is a novel by Darren Shan which was released in the UK and Ireland for World Book Day 2006.

Plot introduction

The book is about a young girl called Koyasan, who fears the graveyard in her town where the spirits live. Her younger sister enters the graveyard after dark and her soul is captured. In order to find and retrieve her sister's stolen soul she must battle three spirits and return the soul to her sister's empty body before dawn.

List of characters