Saturday, October 08, 2005


ENGYOJI




















Finally I can get a word in edgewise here, and relate our last-Saturday visit to Engyoji temple complex on Shoshazan (Mt. Shosha) in Himeji. Our specific reason for going was to enjoy a shojinryori meal at Myoko-in, a small old building in the complex that serves the traditional meal in a formal setting. There are also places where visitors can stay overnight in the temple buildings, but we only went for the day. It was a longer trip than I’d expected from where we live. Took a few train hours to get there, then a bus ride to the mountain, then a brief cable car ride.

Shoshazan is the western counterpart of Hieizan (Mt. Hiei, our neighbor mountain), which guards Kyoto to the north and is home to the temple complex Enryakuji).

The temple complex and pathways were soulfood as always, but the point of this post is a visual of the meal, which was served at individual tables in a large garden-sided tatami room, some in a basket and some on a very large lotus leaf. Eat your heart out, Michelin...


2 comments:

enigma4ever said...

Amazing food photos..I am now starving...I partly wrote because I wanted to compliment the lovely little Buddha-
on the page- where is he and how did you find him- and that looks like such a special nook.....
thanks- allie

Robert Brady said...

Allie, hope you can find some shojinryori to fill that hunger.

The little Buddha (he's really little, and hard to find!) I spotted well off the fenced path in a green velvet floored wood during a rainy day walk through the precincts of the mossy temple Sanzen-in, in Ohara, just ouside Kyoto. I will soon be posting about the walk, with photos, when time permits.