KoyaQuest
Challenges
Challenges
Challenges
The game feature of the app includes 12 challenges and 6 bonus questions.
While most challenges are associated with a single location, three are triggered at more than one place. However, once a challenge is completed, it will not re-appear.
For some challenges, points are awarded on an all-or-nothing basis; for others, points are given based on the number of attempts required for success.
Users who complete all challenges (and bonus questions) recieve a rank and an oppotunity to share their accomplishment on our Leaderboard.
| Location(s) | Description | Bonus? |
|---|---|---|
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This challenge tests your powers of observation as you compare an altered image of the Daimon, or "Great Gate," with the actual object. You will see a picture of the Daimon. Examine it closely by panning and zooming. Try to spot the difference between the photo and the real Daimon. |
| Location(s) | Description | Bonus? |
|---|---|---|
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According to legend, as Kūkai was leaving China to return to Japan in 806, he threw a ritual sceptre (vajra or 三鈷杵) into the air in the direction of Japan with the prayer that it would guide him to the place where he was meant to establish his monastery. It landed, in the area of Mt. Kōya known as the Danjō Garan. Your mission in this challenge is to find the place where the vajra is said to have landed. (You'll find it there yourself!) |
| Location(s) | Description | Bonus? |
|---|---|---|
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Mt. Kōya was home to one of Japan's greatest poets, a priest named Saigyō 西行 (1118 -1190). In this challenge, which is loosely based on a traditional Japanese card game called "uta-garuta," you will be given the first three lines of one of his poems and asked to select the correct final pair of lines from among four options. |
| Location(s) | Description | Bonus? |
|---|---|---|
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As you explore the many points of interest and religious significance here at Mt. Kōya, you are likely to find many images of its founder, Kūkai 空海, based on a portrait painted by a member of the Japanese royal family.This challenge simply asks you to find one of these images. |
| Location(s) | Description | Bonus? |
|---|---|---|
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The personalities of the three greatest Japanese warlords are often contrasted according to the way each is believed to have completed an imaginary haiku about a cuckoo that refuses to sing. This challenge asks you to match the warlord with his method of dealing with such a uncooperative bird. |
| Location(s) | Description | Bonus? |
|---|---|---|
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This challenge harnesses your video game skills as you try to prevent evil oni from entering the gate. But be careful! Women, who were once prohibited from entering Mt. Kōya, are now welcome here. So make sure you don't block the progress of any woman on her holy pilgrimage. |
| Location(s) | Description | Bonus? |
|---|---|---|
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From the foot of the mountain, the 22-kilometer route to Mt. Kōya is marked by 180 stone pillars known as "chōishi" 町石. Each is numbered starting from their origin point at the Great Pagoda (Konpon Daitō) located at the center of the Danjō Garan area. Another 36 pillars measure the distance to the mausoleum of Kōbō-daishi deep inside Oku-no-in. In this challenge, you must identify the number of the stone marker within the target area. Since it will be carved into the stone in kanji, you will need to know a little about how to read these. (Don't worry, help is provided.) |
| Location(s) | Description | Bonus? |
|---|---|---|
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Throughout Oku-no-in, there are thousands of stone monuments known as "Gorintō" 五輪塔. The name means "five-ringed tower." Each section symbolizes one of the five elements: earth, wind (or air), fire, water and space. In this challenge, players are asked to provide the correct label for each of these tiers/elements. |
| Location(s) | Description | Bonus? |
|---|---|---|
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In this ghostly encounter with a 16th-century warlord, you will be tasked with finding the tomb of his arch rival in life. |
| Location(s) | Description | Bonus? |
|---|---|---|
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In this challenge, (which is a little like Pokemon-Go) you will be surrounded by floating images of "Koya-kun," the cute character mascot of Mt. Kōya. Your task is to try to "catch" as many as you can in 60 seconds before they fade away. |
| Location(s) | Description | Bonus? |
|---|---|---|
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This challenge will again test your powers of observation as you will be presented with the silhouettes of three of the statues found alongside the Tamagawa River and asked to put them in their correct order. |
| Location(s) | Description | Bonus? |
|---|---|---|
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Based on the memory game "Concentration," this challenge tests your memory and knoweldge of some facts about Mt. Kōya. Tap on tiles to turn them over in pairs. If the information on the pair is a match, you will earn points. There are bonus points for completing all matches before the 60-sec. timer runs out. |
Half of the challenges are accompanied by bonus questions. These are mulitple choice questions about Mt. Kōya based on information an observant visitor is likely to come upon. Points awarded decrease in value with each attempted answer, but players can keep trying until they get it right!
© 2024, k. collins