Photo/Illutration A 10-course “shojin ryori” vegetarian meal served at Saikan, a lodging facility attached to Dewa Sanzan Jinja shrine in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, includes dishes prepared with heirloom crops, such as “tsukuda-ni” (preserved, simmered or seasoned food) made of Tonojima cucumbers, far right in the middle row, and “zuiki” taro stalks dressed with sesame and miso sauce, far right in the front row. (Koji Shimizu)

TSURUOKA, Yamagata Prefecture--It’s easy to work up an appetite getting to Dewa Sanzan Jinja, seeing as the shrine stands at the head of a 2,446-step stone stairway on the summit of Mount Hagurosan.

And that’s just as well as eating is what awaits those brave souls who complete the climb.

Sanrojo Saikan, a former temple boasting an imposing exterior that provided generations of “yamabushi” mountain hermits with all they needed for their rigorous training, offers vegetable-based “shojin ryori” ascetic cuisine.

It stands to the left of the entrance to the shrine premises.

Used as a Kezo-in temple until the Edo Period (1603-1867), it is now a “shukubo” lodging facility.

Before entering the Three Mountains of Dewa Sanzan, worshippers must stay overnight at Saikan or other shukubo facilities and undertake a “shojin kessai” purification ritual.

This means being served shojin ryori which contains no meat or fish.

General visitors can also stay or dine at the facility.

CHANGING WITH THE TIMES

Saikan provides seven- and 10-course lunches by reservation only.

The 10-course option is priced at 3,850 yen ($24), including tax.

Served on a tray, it comes with standard dishes such as simmered “gassan-dake” bamboo shoots and tofu-like “goma-dofu” custard made with ground sesame and topped with a starchy sauce. Other items include wild vegetables and mushrooms collected from the surrounding mountains and dishes made with local ingredients.

“The wisdom of yamabushi, who ate and preserved wild vegetables to live, is reflected in shojin ryori,” said head chef Shinkichi Ito, 55, who has been working at Saikan for 30-odd years.

For instance, they removed the scum when boiling the wild vegetables to make them tasty, and preserved them in salt or sun-dried them to prepare for when they were unable collect mountain vegetables.

The techniques were passed down through generations until today, which explains the barrels of salt-cured wild vegetables and mushrooms in storage at Saikan.

While original recipes for shojin ryori are lost to history, the vegetarian cuisine has changed over time, according to Ito.

Saikan offers dishes that are slightly different from 30 years ago in terms of variety, number of items and how they are served.

“I make sure to keep the tradition alive and incorporate new things,” he said.

One example is that Ito uses so-called heirloom crops from Tsuruoka.

The city was designated as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy in 2014 for its shojin ryori and heirloom vegetables.

For the past several years, he has been using Tonojima cucumbers to make “tsukuda-ni” (preserved, simmered or seasoned food) and other plates as well as Hoya turnips for tempura and simmered dishes.

“Heirloom crops have unique flavors, and there are people who conserve them,” Ito said. “I try to use them in an active manner, devising my own ways to pass them down to future generations.”

ATTRACTING INBOUND TOURISM

A concerted effort kicked off in 2012 to promote the charms of shojin ryori and attract visitors to the Toge district near Mount Hagurosan, which is lined with shukubo lodging facilities.

In addition to hosting events and training sessions, shukubo and ryokan inn operators started a joint project to share their recipes and improve the quality of shojin ryori.

About 330 shukubo were operating in the district during the Edo Period, according to project head Akira Toki, 56, who runs Tamonkan, a ryokan inn previously used as a shukubo until the early Showa Era (1926-1989).

But the figure fell to around 20 after many of them went out of business due to the advanced age of those coming to worship and other reasons.

In the meantime, the district has witnessed a sharp increase in foreign visitors, who now account for 30 to 40 percent of overnight stayers at Tamonkan.

Its accommodation package that includes shojin ryori is also popular among vegetarians.

“I want to put shojin ryori at the core of tourism and community building to lure a new wave of visitors,” Toki said.

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