Weekend trip: Part II - Mt. Koya

Koyasan is a sacred Buddhist mountain south of Osaka with over 100 temples. Hiking the ancient pilgrimage trail and spending the night in a Buddhist monastery has been in my bucket list for a long time. Paul, Richard and Rob decided to come too, so I had hiking buddies!

Statues at the beginning of the trail

The pilgrimage route leading to Koyasan is called the Choishi Michi, a 20 kilometer, 800 meter elevation hike marked by 180 pillars marking ever cho (cho = 108 meters). We started our hike around 10 am.

1st Cho, 179 to go!

 The trail started steeply and then it levered. We got some nice views of the surrounding area. The air was cold and crisp and the day was clear. It was a beautiful day to hike.

Another cho marker, I had already lost count

The trail runs into a golf course. Ha!

I guess he got cold too

  Further up the hike, we started to see signs of snow. This was certainly unexpected because snow is not usual in Koyasan, even in the winter. The unusally cold winter we are having in Japan threw a few surprises our way and slowed down our pace for the last three kilometers.

After 6 hours of hiking, we turned around the corner and were rewarded with the view of the Daimon, or main gate! The bad news was that our monastery was 2 kilometers away from the Daimon, so we had to pick up our stuff and keep hiking.

The Daimon

Various temples at Koyasan

We finally arrived to Eko-in, the monastery where we were going to spend the night. The bath was very simple but after 6 hours of hiking it felt so great. We changed into our yukata and got ready for dinner at the monastery.

Eko-in

Part of the experience of staying in a buddhist monastery is to eat shojin ryori, the vegetarian food that monks eat. I am in love with shojin ryori. It was very traditionally Japanese, with a lot of umami flavors and so pleasing to the eye as much as the palate. We also lugged up the mountain bottles of "nama sake"(unpasteurized fresh sake) from the brewery in Kobe, so it felt pretty good to open the bottles and toast.

Soup, seaweed and oshinko (pickles)

Tofu with wasabi and seaweed

Udon noodles in the pot and yuba and vegetables

And the Nama Sake I lugged all the way up the mountain

The next day, we woke up early to attend the morning Buddhist prayers and the fire ceremony. I really wish that we had more explanation about the prayers so we could understand what was going on. After the prayers, we had Japanese breakfast and left Koyasan via the cable car that connects the mountain to the train station below. Now I need to start planning my next hike.

The fire ceremony

"Nest is Best": A visit to Kiuchi Brewery

I had the pleasure to first taste Hitachino Nest Winter Ale at Momofuku Ramen in New York. Not only was the beer excellent, but it had a picture of an owl so of course I could not get over how cute it is. So after discovering that Paul, one of my buddies in the Keio IP exchange program also likes it a lot I decided to "google" the brewery.

Kiuchi Brewery is located in Hitachi in Ibaraki Prefecture. I randomly shot them an email through their website asking if a bunch of international "Hitachino Nest fans" could come visit the brewery. To our delight they where super enthusiastic about us visiting and trying their products, so we decided to give it a shot.

*How can you not love this owl? I dare you*

 

After riding a mix of local trains, the metro and the Shinkansen (bullet train) for about 2.5-3 hours we got to Kiuchi Brewery. It is in a VERY rural area in Japan, so at this point we knew the trip was going to be awesome or a complete disaster. Turns out the booze gods were smiling on us.

Turns out that beer is a very recent development for Kiuchi, which has been brewing Sake at this location for 180+ years (it was established in 1823). The first thing that struck us was the traditional Japanese architecture of the brewery.

 * The magic happens behind those doors*

The brewery welcomed us and we decided to first have lunch at the soba restaurant that is part of the brewery. Its a good strategy to start a brewery tour on a full stomach.

 We had to strategize on the best way to taste as many of their beers as possible, so we decided to each get a different one and share.

 I got the winter "celebration ale", a beer that is only brewed for new year's. It was fantastic.

They guys got a Weizen, Amber Ale and IPA. I really enjoyed the Weizen, it had a honeyed taste to it and I think it would be really enjoyable in nice weather. My lunch was also very good, it consisted of warm soba noodles and a dipping broth full of delicious winter vegetables. I have had hot soba and cold soba noodles, but never warm soba.

The brewery tour started after lunch. Our awesome guide Tomoko-san guided us through the sake brewing process. We actually went INTO the brewery, it was awesome that they allowed us to go it and took the time to show us around.

 

 * A new cedar is hanged when sake is brewed*

* We left our shoes at the door and put on these plastic slippers, no nasties from the outside come into the brewery*

Tomoko-san took us through the sake making process!  

*Washing and soaking*

 

*Steaming*

 *Mashing*

 * Filtering*

 *Aging*

After the tour of sake making, we went to the section of the brewery where you can do your own microbrews. We were so excited and where willing to start brewing right away. But the brewing process takes four hours, we did not have enough time.

 

Lastly, Tomoko drove us to the expanding beer facilities, where we got to see the brewing tanks and meet the master brewer! His favourite Hitachino Nest beer? The New Year Celebration Ale.

 * Nest IS best*

*Nest Fans and the Brew Master*

 

 Lastly, we came back to the main brewery and finished trying their beers ( we recommend the Sweet Stout, very nice!). Then we moved on to sake, and ended with shochu. It was a fantastic experience!!! If you are traveling in Japan and want to have a fantastic, different and authentic day trip, shoot an email and visit Kiuchi Brewery. I promise you will not be disappointed.

 *Kanpai!*