Wednesday, 4 December 2013

Shojin Ryori (Buddhist Cuisine) (1) at Tenryu-ji Temple, Arashiyama

Having local food is one of the enjoyments of travelling.

Sushi and Tempura were the only major requests from visitors I met 5 years ago. In recent years requests are much more varied, from ramen noodles to Kobe beef. Some would like to try a bento box others want Japanese curry. I feel Japanese food has become much better known overseas.

Kyoto's well-known cooking styles are;
Obanzai (the home cooking Kyoto style)
Kaiseki cuisine (both Kaiseki as course meal 会席 and meal at tea ceremony 懐石)
Shojin cuisine (Buddhist vegetarian meal).


There are many headquarters of temples in Kyoto and they all receive visitors from the parishioners of their branch temples. Some of them offer accommodation and will provide food or have catering services. I mentioned before in this blog about Okutan (a yudofu restaurant) which is one of this kind of facility at Nanzen-ji Temple. Okutan is a private restaurant, not run by the temple.

Wednesday, 27 November 2013

Autumn colours: Jingo-ji Temple in Takao

Jingo-ji Temple, Takao, Kyoto
神護寺 (京都/高雄)
 
 
 
Takao, Makio and Togano'o are in the mountains west of Kyoto and together are one of the most popular destinations for Autumn colours. Each of the areas has a temple, one of them designated as a World Heritage Site. It takes 50 minutes more or less from Kyoto Station. It is only popular with visitors at this time of year and the rest is sleeping.

Sunday, 17 November 2013

Hello again!

It's been a long long time since I posted and I'd been wondering about closing the blog. After being very much wishy-washy for so long I've made up my mind to continue writing about things going on in Kyoto and my life in Japan.