_okunoin
Moss blankets the ground and drips from ancient gravestones in luminous chartreuse. Towering 700-year old Japanese pines stand sentinel against the morning chill in a crowded canopy. Dawn pierces their branches in golden shards, its' light harshly illuminating statues of Buddha, innumerable gorintō and other odes to the dead. Where sunlight cannot reach, cavernous shadows are rendered deep and dark. My breath rises through falling snowflakes as I anxiously labor up the lantern-flanked pathway toward the mausoleum. I feel the presence of others and often turn to look behind me. There is no one.
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People walk amongst the gravesites at Okunoin Cemetery, Koyasan, Japan on April 4, 2019.
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Gravesites at Okunoin Cemetery, Koyasan, Japan on April 4, 2019.
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Gravesite at Okunoin Cemetery, Koyasan, Japan on April 4, 2019.
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Man walking amongst the gravesites at Okuno-in Cemetery in Koyasan, Japan on April 3, 2019.
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Japanese Cedar trees, some over 600-years old, rise at Okuno-in Cemetery in Koyasan, Japan on April 3, 2019.
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Gravesites at Okuno-in Cemetery in Koyasan, Japan on April 3, 2019.
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Gravesites at Okunoin Cemetery, Koyasan, Japan on April 4, 2019.
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A path wends through Okunoin Cemetery, Koyasan, Japan on April 4, 2019.
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Gravesites at Okuno-in Cemetery in Koyasan, Japan on April 3, 2019.
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A man throws water on Buddha statues for good fortune at Okunoin Cemetery, Koyasan, Japan on April 3, 2019.
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Monks carry the morning food offering to Kobo Daishi at Okunoin Cemetery, Koyasan, Japan on April 4, 2019.
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Monks carry the morning food offering to Kobo Daishi at Okunoin Cemetery, Koyasan, Japan on April 4, 2019.
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Gravesites at Okuno-in Cemetery in Koyasan, Japan on April 3, 2019.
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Gravesites at Okuno-in Cemetery in Koyasan, Japan on April 3, 2019.
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A monk takes a dawn ritual bath in a stream at Okunoin Cemetery, Koyasan, Japan on April 4, 2019. The ambient air temperature is below freezing.
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A monk walks amongst the gravesites at Okunoin Cemetery, Koyasan, Japan on April 4, 2019.
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