There is a place in the Japan where time has stopped, a place where it is easy to imagine oneself a Buddhist pilgrim of the middle ages, a place of breathtaking beauty. This extraordinary shrine at the top of the Kii Mountains is called Koya-san.
Up there, at the top of the mountain, you can contemplate the greatest complex of Buddhist temples I have ever seen. Pagodas on all sides, for several kilometers, lined up along the millennial pines.
Their sleek lines, in perfect harmony with nature cannot leave a human being indifferent.
Beyond religion, it is emotion that strikes at your core in the sanctuary of Koya-san. How can a place like this not been mentioned to me by anyone? How can you be alive on this earth and not been aware of the beauty of this sanctuary?
Not even my French family who raised me with a deep respect of the archaeological Greek site of Delphi knew about this. How could I have lived without knowing the magic of Mt. Koya?
It is with my friend Pascal that I arrived, at the top of the small cable car run, in the middle of the winter. The sanctuary was awaking to the first rays of a crystalline and bright sun. The emotion that embraced us on that day made us speechless for numerous hours
We were all alone in the Kii Mountains with a show in front of us so wonderful and so pristine that we no longer knew where to take pictures. Even our cameras decided to shut up, stunned by the majesty of these ancestral places.
Even if I hate the cold of the winter, I was transfixed for several hours by the reflecting snow whirling on the floors of stupas
The immaculate white of the snow, the light blue of the sky, the deep blue of the age-old pines and the blood red of the temples to complete the picture.
Pascal and I had arrived at the end of our quest and we did not want to make any abrupt gesture at the risk of breaking the magic.
At nightfall, groups of monks arrived in varying shades of gold dressed for their prayers in the evening.
After they all returned to their respective temples and the darkness invaded the sanctuary, we looked at each other and burst into joyful laughter like two runaway children who just discovered the beauty of the world.
Until my last breath, the red pagoda will now be inseparable from the bright white of the snow.
Koya-san had done its magic, Koya-san had stolen a part of our soul, Koya-san had invaded our hearts.