In the foothills below Mount Kōya, in the village of Kudoyama, stands the Niukanshōfu shrine, dedicated to the deities who protect the sacred mountain. In the ninth century, the monk Kūkai, known after his death as Kōbō Daishi, founded a monastery on the plateau of Kōyasan as the centre of Shingon Buddhism, and he established an administrative office here, at the foot of the mountain, to manage the supply of the monastery. Nearby, the temple of Jison-in is associated with Kūkai's mother, who according to tradition lived here because women were not allowed on the mountain, and her son came down to visit her. The shrine and temple mark the start of the Chōishi-michi, the pilgrim path to Kōyasan, marked every 109 metres by stone posts, which climbs about twenty kilometres to the monastery. The sites are part of the UNESCO listing of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range.
Kudoyama is a quiet village in the valley of the Kinokawa river, surrounded by orchards. The region is famous for its persimmons, and in autumn the trees are hung with orange fruit, and dried persimmons hang from the eaves of farmhouses.
The ride up to Kōyasan is one of the great experiences of the Kii peninsula. The roads climb from the Kinokawa valley through cedar forests in a seemingly endless series of tight bends, steep and narrow in places, to the plateau at around eight hundred metres. The surface is excellent, but the road is busy with tour buses at weekends, and the bends demand concentration. Once at the top, you enter a town of more than a hundred temples, many offering lodging to pilgrims, with vegetarian Buddhist cuisine and morning prayers. The Okunoin cemetery, with hundreds of thousands of graves among giant cedars, leading to Kūkai's mausoleum, is unforgettable, especially at dusk.
Further on, the Kōya-Ryūjin Skyline runs south along the ridges towards Ryūjin hot springs, a wonderful, flowing mountain road with views over endless forested peaks.
Hashimoto, about seven kilometres away, has fuel, convenience stores and restaurants. Fuel is available in the town of Kōya on the plateau too, but stations on the mountain roads are rare. In winter, snow and ice make the roads dangerous; spring and autumn, with cherry blossoms or red maples, are the best seasons.