A temple stay (shukubo) on Koyasan

Koyasan sits at around 800 metres on a forested plateau in Wakayama, reached by a slow train south from Osaka and then a cable car that hauls you up the last steep gradient into the cedars. It is not a museum town but a working centre of Shingon Buddhism, founded twelve centuries ago by the monk Kukai, and more than fifty of its temples take overnight guests. To stay in one — a shukubo — is to be a guest of the monastery rather than a hotel. Your room is tatami and paper screens, a low table, a futon laid out while you dine. Supper is shojin ryori, the vegetarian cuisine of the monks: sesame tofu, mountain vegetables, pickles and rice, served without meat, fish, onion or garlic, and quietly among the finest food in Japan. There is a bath to share and an early night, because the day begins before dawn. Morning prayers are the reason to come. In the cold half-light you sit at the back of the main hall while the monks chant and the incense thickens, the sutras rising and falling in a rhythm that has not changed in a very long time. You are welcome to join, welcome simply to watch. Some temples follow the service with a goma fire ritual, flames and drums in a dark hall. Then there is Okunoin. The path to Kukai's mausoleum runs for two kilometres through the largest cemetery in Japan, past more than two hundred thousand tombs beneath cedars that were old when Europe was medieval. Lanterns line the way; moss softens the stone. Walk it at night, when the crowds have gone and the lanterns do most of the seeing, and the plateau gives you its truest hour. This is a gentle entry among the list's cultural experiences, and an honest one — the point is not comfort but participation. Bring layers, as the mountain air is cool even in summer and cold from autumn on. One night teaches the shape of the day; two lets you stop performing the visit and simply keep monastic time.