After washing up, we were called to dinner at 6pm. We put on our Yukata robes (laid out in our room, for wearing around the temple). The Yukata is a long robe that you wrap around yourself and tie with a sash (obi). We actually had two, a cotton robe and a thicker robe to wear over for cooler weather.
We joined the other guests in the dining room where a small table on the floor was set up for each of us. After a few minutes a young monk came in from an adjoining room with a tray of food, knelt down, and arranged the dishes on our little table. The monks on Koyasan serve a special type of traditional cuisine called shojin-ryori which is entirely vegetarian. It is cooked without meat, fish, onions or garlic. This cooking method has been secretly passed on from monk to monk for over a millennium.
It was delicious!
Dishes included tempura (excellent), aghe, Koya-tofu, Goma-tofu (made with sesame paste rather than soy bean), Miso soup, sweet and sour seaweeds in vinegar, pickled vegetables, wild potatoes, sweet red beans, and several types of soup including a ginger soup that was amazing, and of course white rice and green tea.
The breakfast was very similar to dinner (this is the case in Korea and Japan - fish, soup, and rice are traditional breakfast foods).
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