Koyasan Choishi-michi

Every 109 metres a granite post more than 3 metres tall stands beside the path, carved in the shape of a five-tiered stupa and numbered. The first, number 180, is on the steps above Jison-in in Kudoyama; the last, number one, is at the Konpon Daito of the Danjo Garan on Koyasan. Counting them down is what keeps you going on the long climb.

Of the seven old roads up Koyasan this was the main one, and by tradition Kukai himself marked it with wooden posts. When those rotted, the monk Kakugyo began replacing them in stone in 1265, and with donations from the retired emperor Go-Saga, the regent Hojo Tokimune and ordinary people the work was finished in 1285. Most of the stones standing today are those originals. Another 36 continue from the Danjo Garan to Kukai's mausoleum at Koyasan Okunoin, which makes the whole route about 24 km. The path is part of the Koyasan pilgrimage routes in the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range, listed in 2004.

The hardest part comes first. From Jison-in the path climbs steeply through persimmon orchards for about an hour to a viewpoint over the Kinokawa plain. After that it goes into cedar forest and eases off, past Rokuhon-sugi, where a side path drops to Niutsuhime Shrine, and the Futatsu-torii, a pair of stone gates from 1649 near stone 120, from which pilgrims bowed towards the shrine. Yatate, where the path crosses the main road, has toilets and a tea house selling yakimochi rice cakes, the only real food stop. Above it the path passes the Kesakake-ishi, the stone where Kukai is said to have hung his robe, and the last steep pull begins near stone 12 and ends under the 25.1-metre Daimon gate.

The practical points: allow six to seven hours, start by 8:00, and carry water and food. You can shorten it by leaving at Furu-toge for Kami-Kosawa Station, or by starting at Yatate. The path was partly closed after heavy rain in March 2024 and reopened along its whole length on 18 October 2025, so check with Kudoyama town after storms. Most walkers spend the night in a temple lodging on Koyasan and visit Kongobu-ji and Okunoin the next day.