Hondoji and Bamboo shoots

Last weekend, The Dreamer, who is new to Nagareyama, and I went on a field trip to see 本土時 Hondoji, the Nichiren Buddhist temple famous for its four-season garden.

When you walk out of the north exit of 北小金 Kitakogane Station on the Joban local line, it is less than a ten minute walk to the temple. Marking the beginning of the avenue of trees leading to the temple you will see two stone pillars.

The cherry trees were just finished.  The irises haven’t started yet. But we got to enjoy all the variety of greens and textures. The tree-lined street has a soba shop, a tea house or two, and an omiyage stand selling pickles and local produce.

 

 

 

 

The Dreamer brought her temple pilgrim book called 朱印帖 shuinchou, and the priest in training wrote in large kanji 妙法 myouhou.  Myouhou means wonderful truth, and is part of the chant, Namu myouhou renge kyou,  central to Nichiren Buddhism. The caretaker made us a cup of tea and a snack while the ink dried and we talked about the community around the temple. People come and volunteer in the garden. There are talks on Nichiren Buddhism and a few times a year, a tour of the temple.

On the avenue approach to the temple, there was a man with a pickup truck selling 竹の子 takenoko. For 400 yen, he gave me a huge bamboo shoot, a bag of rice bran, and simple instructions on how to cook it. The shoot didn’t smell like I had thought. It took about 30 minutes in the tea kettle, cooling off overnight in the water for it to take on the characteristic smell. It’s really good sliced up and scattered in scrambled eggs in the morning. I made eggplant, cucumber, carrot and bamboo shoot stirfry seasoned with Chinese chili sauce and garlic.