Owner Comments:
Summary of Wakayama Prefecture
Capital City: Wakayama
Population in 2014 (thousands): 970
Area (square km): 4,724
Wakayama Coin
1000 yen silver coin
Image of Wakayama design of 1,000 yen
(Obverse design: Danjo Garan Temple Complex , Mt. Koya)
Mt. Koya: This sacred mountain site, founded in 816 by the Japanese monk Kobo Daishi (Kukai), celebrates the 1200th anniversary of its foundation in 2015. In 2004 it was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range.
Danjo Garan Temple Complex: This is believed to have been the site of the first complex built by Kukai when he came to Mt. Koya, and the view of the Danjo Garan with the Konpon Daito Great Stupa at its heart is one of the most famous sights on the mountain. In 1977, the Garan Area was designated a National Historic Site as part of the Kongobuji Temple precincts, and the Great Stupa, Kondo (Main Hall), and other buildings within these precincts constitute Japan’s first full-scale monastic complex dedicated to esoteric Buddhism.