Do you know about "Yamato Ama-dera Shojin Nikki"?
This is a documentary program that was broadcast on E-Tele from 2016 to 2020.
As the title suggests, it is a record of the daily life and shojin ryori (Buddhist vegetarian cuisine) at a nunnery in Yamato Province (modern-day Nara Prefecture).
Although it is called a nunnery, its official name is Otowasan Kannon-ji Temple.
This is a program that is, in a way, strangely addictive.
Although the regular broadcast has ended, there are still rebroadcasts according to the seasons, and above all, new episodes have been broadcast occasionally recently.
For those who are interested, the YouTube channel is still being updated, so please start there (laughs).
The person in the photo is the head priest, Mitsuei Goto.
She currently lives at the temple alone, but during the time of the regular broadcasts, the temple had a strong, cheerful impression of three people: the head priest, assistant priest Jito Sasaki, and their helper, Macchan, who were always laughing.
The greatest appeal of the program is, above all, the seasonal shojin ryori.
Don't you have an image of shojin ryori being simple and frugal?
In my mind, I had a strong image of a monk's meal consisting of rice, soup, pickles, beans, and sesame tofu... and I had the impression that they were
battling hunger every day.
That image will be overturned.
It is exactly as you would imagine, with everything being handmade in gratitude for nature's blessings, but everything looks beautiful and delicious.
Fighting hunger is out of the question.
It's full of all my favorite things.😊✨
Enjoying the appearance, enjoying the aroma, enjoying the sounds, and enjoying the taste—that's what it's like.
Above all, the process of making the food looks so fun, and I can feel my spirits lifting just by watching it.
It's said to be such a bright and energetic filming set that it makes you want to say, "Mix it, mix it!🎵"
By the way, the content of the program has also been published as a book.
It's my favorite.
The temple life, which is close to self-sufficiency.
The interactions with people who come to the temple.
The temple's daily duties.
Daily life.
There are no special elements, yet it's strange how each one of them seems like a dream.
It feels like the way of life from my grandparents' generation is still there.
I think the word nostalgic fits perfectly.
Enjoy a relaxing moment with the television.
"Shiawase wa, Tabete Nete Mate," which became popular last year, had that same feeling.
—When you're here, you think about all sorts of things, like how to use this or what to do with that. You make do with what you have.
When I think back to my childhood, we didn't have anything, so we made our own toys or my father made them for me.
Now that everything is so easy to get, I realize that those things have disappeared from city life.
I've started to wonder if city life, where everything is provided for you, is really that convenient.
Here, there is the act of thinking, improvising, and making things with your own hands.
It's a way of living to survive, I suppose.
It makes me feel like I'm truly alive.
These are lines spoken by Macchan in the book.
It would be convenient if I had something like this.
There is no doubt that this sentiment is what created the convenient world we live in today, and it is also true that I feel grateful for it, knowing what life was like when it was inconvenient.
If you asked me if I could go back to the inconvenient life of the past, I think it might be a bit impossible for me 😅
I think the older I get, the more grateful I will feel for this convenient life.
But at the same time, I also feel like a part of my heart is slipping through my fingers.
That is precisely why I think there is so much to learn from the words and ways of life of these three people.
While I think I'd like to visit at least once, the journey is so arduous that I'm already in "give up" mode before I even start.
So, at the very least, I want to adopt their mindset.
Live with nature, cherish people, enjoy delicious meals, and laugh a lot.
Since it is a cooking show, you rarely hear sermons from the nuns or anything about the essence of Buddhism.
What you see is daily life, where traditions and customs are skillfully integrated.
It is so pleasant that it feels just like a sermon.
I wish I could convey the charm of the program better.
So, I really hope you will experience the charm of the program that I cannot fully convey by watching it yourself.
However, unfortunately, the broadcast is irregular.
Please try to look for it if you have the chance. (I'm leaving it all up to you)