After leaving Kyoto, my boyfriend and I hopped several trains, a cable car up the mountainside, and a bus that wound its way up a narrow serpentine road to get to Kōyasan (Mount Kōya), head of the Shingon sect of Buddhism and home to 120 temples. Many of these offer shukubō, temple lodging, which includes dinner — a vegan shōjin ryōri meal, guaranteed to be free of dashi, meat stock, or anything else I usually have to watch out for in Japanese cuisine. This would be a treat for many reasons. Read the rest of this entry »
