Princess cuisine.

Sankoin is a nunnery in Koganei, western Tokyo — a women's temple over 660 years old, where every word of calligraphy inside was written by a woman's hand. People call its cooking princess cuisine, which is a small misunderstanding. The princesses never cooked it. Nameless nuns and court ladies cooked it for them, for centuries.

The food grew up to be eaten by court-noble women who entered the temple, so it fits neither the Chinese-monk style nor the Japanese-monk style. The word they use for the taste is tanmi — the faint taste, the flavor of the vegetable itself with nothing borrowed on top. There is no dashi in most of the meal; when a broth is needed it is kelp only, drawn fresh that same morning. The burdock just cooks — three and a half, four hours, until the water is gone, for one dish.

This is the only kitchen in Japan still cooking this court-nunnery style. There are no graves here, no funerals, no tour buses — the meal is the only thing keeping it alive. Prep starts at 5 a.m. for one lunch served at noon, and most days the abbess plates the food herself.