Koyasan's cemetery is large enough that at least one company has apparently decided a memorial there is worth having even for its coffee brand.
A mountain granted for a purpose
The monk Kukai, later honoured as Kobo Daishi, founded Shingon Buddhism in Japan after studying esoteric teachings in Tang dynasty China, and received Mount Koya from Emperor Saga in 816 as a secluded site for monastic training, establishing the temple complex that has operated continuously in some form ever since.
The largest cemetery in Japan
The approach to Kukai's mausoleum at Okunoin runs through a cemetery of more than two hundred thousand tombstones and memorial markers under old-growth cedar, among the largest burial grounds in the country. Alongside historical daimyo and monks, the cemetery includes modern memorial monuments erected by Japanese corporations, including firms with no direct religious connection to the site, commemorating employees or, in some cases, using memorial forms shaped like company products, a modern layer added onto an otherwise very old practice of seeking proximity to Kukai in death.
Lodging built for pilgrims
Koyasan's temple complex includes numerous shukubo, temple lodgings that host pilgrims and tourists overnight, serving shojin ryori vegetarian monastic cuisine and, in many cases, inviting guests to attend the morning fire ritual, a practice that has made staying overnight at a functioning monastery a standard part of visiting rather than an exceptional one.