Koya-san

Student monks in the Garan, the central temple complex at Koya-san, Japan, recite scriptures as they make a circuit of the temples. Koya-san, a holy mountain south of Osaka, is Japan's principal centre of the esoteric Shingon ('True Word') school of Buddhism, founded in 816 AD by the monk Kukai, also known as Kobo-Daishi.