Ive only just arrived at Mount Koya and I already feel like Ive cheated on my pilgrimage.

Backpack-laden foreigners are mingling with Japanese pilgrims sporting walking sticks and conical hats in the towns snowy train station parking area. But my stalwart travel companion, Felicity, and I slowly roll by them in our comfortably heated car, having driven 90 minutes from Ikoma to Mount Koya, Wakayama Prefecture.

Im not entirely sad to be arriving in style. The temperature outside is barely topping the freezing mark and the previous nights snow still lies thick on the temple roofs and sidewalks. While Ive long wanted to make this trip and even imagined the beauty of seeing Mount Koya in winter my fingers are already losing circulation just at the chilly sight.

These days, you dont have to be a believer to make the journey to this temple complex, which sits on the apex of a wooded mountain. Although pilgrims have been coming to this center of Shingon Buddhism since its foundation by famed monk Kobo Daishi (also known as Kukai) in 816, the 1,200th anniversary of the monastic settlement this year promises an increase in the number of curious tourists who have heard of Mount Koyas serenity and want to see it for themselves.

Felicity and I begin our explorations at the large entrance gate that signals to pilgrims coming up the 24-km Choishi-Michi trail that their destination and possible salvation is in reach. A little way down, we meet Rie Sakai, a henro (pilgrim) hiking up the narrow lane with her sturdy stick and wagesa (a pilgrims silk stole). We stop to chat and I query her on what could have motivated her visit to Mount Koya in such a season.

Well, I dont have to work at the moment, so the timing was good, she says, though admits were lucky to have such a clear winter day. When pressed a bit more, Rie rifles through her pack and reveals a beautiful stamp book from the 88 Temple Pilgrimage on Shikoku Island.

Ive come to Mount Koya to give thanks for a successful journey around Shikoku, she adds. With our adventure merely a weekend, its easy to forget that, for some, Mount Koya is the culmination of something much bigger.

A few meters further on, we pick our way carefully up the icy steps to Danjo Garan the towering vermilion pagoda that has become a symbol of Mount Koya to the outside world and the first place in the area where we discover other foreign travelers. Despite those gathered in the grounds around the pagoda, the surrounding sub-temples attract few visitors. Even at neighboring Kongobuji Temple, only a few other heavily bundled visitors are swishing along the polished corridors and admiring the sumptuously painted screens.

A heavenly cup of chai warms our frozen fingers at Bon On Shya, an atmospheric cafe in the middle of Mount Koyas temple precinct.

Its very quiet here in the winter, says the owner, a transplant from Yokohama who wandered down here years ago and just stayed. In fact, theyre closing up as soon as we finish, but we make a note of the hours for the following day so we can return and examine the local pottery displayed in the cafes gallery.

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Journey of eat, pray, bathe awaits pilgrams to Mount Koya