Miwa to Koyasan

We made a light breakfast in our room then headed for the station early as we were keen to get to Koyasan as early as possible.
We took a local train to Hashimoto with a woman our age who was carrying a bunch of flowers. She was very friendly although we had virtually no common language and we enjoyed her company, along with another woman, exchanging gifts - they liked our kangaroo badges - and showing her our itinerary.
At Hashimoto we waved goodbye and lined up for our ticket on a non-JR Line. As we got our Pass, we were ushered onto the train, which may have waited for us? There were plenty of tourists on this train with their large suitcases. We climbed into the hills and then boarded a cable car which rose steeply over quite a distance to the top.
Here we were directed to a bus. It was a bit puzzling as we were told we would have to walk 10 minutes to our inn, but as I said this to Dick the man came up and corrected himself saying that if we waited 10 minutes we could take a bus to the stop near our inn - the information I had worked out.
Koyasan was a surprise, indeed a city. We were able to leave our luggage at Yochi-in as check in was not until 3 pm, then we headed for the Shrine area on another bus.
Koyasan was crawling with people and it turned out to be the death day of the founder monk with special celebrations at the Temple closest to our monastery. It was a date determined by the moon, and by coincidence, Easter Sunday!
So we walked with a lot of people, through a large 'cemetery' among tall trees dating from around 800 BCE
It was good to have a bus pass as my legs were getting quite sore by then.
We changed buses and went out to the Daimon gate then walked down hill, stopping at a bakery where we bought a range of his cakes and sat by the road eating them.
We checked in and had a nice introduction by a monk in our room then, after a hot tub, at last with other women, dinner at the monastery was also a fine affair with interesting people and food.
After dinner we stepped out for a walk and found ourselves in the Temple where we were given a bunch of flowers and a candle to make offerings. We listened to a chanting choir of older Japanese and watched some dancing before heading back to our room.