－ Indian Rabbit －
photo：AKIRA MORIYASU
June (Minadzuki)
＜Flower Course＞
Matcha green tea and a monaka featuring the gentian flower crest of Sankō-in
A monaka is a wafer cake filled with red bean paste.
Nishime, or simmered food
Mountain yam rolls, boiled kōya-dofu (freeze-dried bean curd), burdock root with sesame dressing, and boiled pumpkin, garnished with a celestial bamboo leaf.
Boiled ume plum
Ume plums are in season in the temple’s garden. These sour plums are boiled gently to preserve their shape, then left in cool water overnight, and served with sugar and soy sauce.
Indian Rabbit
This dish of tofu is flavored with saikyō miso and shaped to evoke the rabbit in the moon. This dish was conceived by abbess Kōei as a meditation on the Jataka tale of the rabbit. In the story, the rabbit throws itself into a fire, sacrificing its own life to feed a hungry sage, a true act of altruism.
Kōei Tofu
Cherrywood-smoked tofu. This signature dish was perfected by this temple’s abbess Kōei.
Kogarashi (literal translation: cold winter wind)
An eggplant dish, in the Kyoto style of oden (also known as a dengaku), with miso on top, and sprinkled with yuzu peel from the temple garden. The name of this dish was conceived by abbess Kōei after a biwa belonging to the empress-turned-nun Taira no Tokuko, because the shape of the sliced eggplant is similar to that of the biwa.
Sip-soup (suimono, or clear soup)
Rice with young ginger
Pickles
＜Moon Course＞
In addition to the dishes listed above, there is an oden of millet fu. Fu is gluten.
＜Snow Course＞
In addition to the dishes listed above, there is konjak tempura; and Takenogosho-style sip tea.
*Dishes are subject to change and may not be exactly according to the monthly menus.
All courses are available by reservation only.