Koyasan Must Eat Sesame Tofu • Kadohama Goma-tofu Honpo 胡麻豆腐 • 角濱ごまとうふ総本舗飲食部 • 高野山 ☎ 0736268700

Koyasan_Sesame_Tofu_Kadohama_Goma-tofu_Honpo_胡麻豆腐 • 角濱ごまとうふ総本舗飲食部 • 高野山

First time in Koyasan 高野山, one of the three holiest mountains of Buddhism in Japan and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Established in the 1st Century, Koyasan was home to some 1200 Buddhist temples at its peak. Today, there are a about 100 temples still in operation on Koyasan.

Highly accessible from Osaka, total journey from Osaka station takes within 2 hours by public transport. It's a train ride then transfer to funicular (cable car) and a short bus ride. The ICOCA metro transit card can be used throughout, so it is seamless, very convenient.

(There is an express bus service direct from Kansai Airport to Koyasan but it was not in operation when we were there in July 2026.)

We took a red eye flight from Singapore to Osaka, hopped on the train at Kansai Airport to Osaka, and still made it here at Koyasan in time for lunch. A bit tiring but can be done (if you are a little bit crazy as well).

Koyasan is a rustic, picturesque small mountain town. There are restaurants, cafes, bars, retail shops, etc., as Koyasan is popular with tourists as well as local pilgrims.

Getting around town is easy as it is well served by public buses. Walking around the winding, tree lined roads dotted with temples is very pleasant too.

We headed straight for lunch at Kadohama Goma-tofu Honpo 角濱ごまとうふ総本舗飲食部 famous for their goma tofu or sesame tofu.

First time having goma tofu, I had no idea what it was.

I am never a big fan of tofu. I can eat it, some are nice but it is not something I naturally seek out for.

So when Ben suggested tofu for our first meal at Koyasan, I just went along out of politeness. Wasn't looking forward to much except for a break from traveling from Singapore to Osaka and Koyasan by air, rail, cable car, bus and foot (with luggage and not much sleep).

Inside Kadohama Goma-tofu Honpo, it's a calm and tranquil space. Cool relief from the summer heat and humidity outside. Bright and spacious, very clean, quiet, comfortable, elegant in an understated way.

Very Japan.

There were two levels.

Cashier with prettily packed merchandise.

The specialty at Kadohama Goma-tofu Honpo is goma tofu 胡麻豆腐.

Goma tofu or sesame tofu is a staple in Shojin Ryori 精進料理 - a form of Buddhist cuisine that contains mainly vegetables and grains (no meat or fish).

Kadohama Goma-tofu Honpo's menu has two sets of assorted tofu as well as a la carte items. Not sure what to order from the a la carte menu, we just opted for the two sets with a sampling of different tofu.

The cube of tofu looked ordinary, plain Jane.

Snowy white, dressed with a bit of sauce and topping.

Doesn't excite at first sight.

One bite and it blew my mind.

Woke me up from my daze from all the traveling since the night before.

It was heavier and firmer than ordinary tofu. There was a subtle taste of sesame seed with a delicate sweet flavour. Very tasty blend together.

The tofu was velvety smooth, like a custard, nearly spongy, with a delicate bounce to the bite.

I soon realised that the name tofu is a misnomer as there is no soy bean at all in goma tofu.

It's made with skinned raw sesame seed (un-toasted), yudzu starch 葛粉 and Koyasan spring water.

Yudzu starch 葛粉 is made from the root of the Yudzu plant.

Kadohama Goma-tofu Honpo make their goma tofu fresh at the shop.

That means Koyasan is the best place to enjoy goma tofu (just like the best place for Ipoh bean sprouts and Ipoh kway teow is Ipoh because of its spring water).

Our stay in Koyasan was sadly too brief, so we could only try one goma tofu place (shall come back for more) to know Koyasan better and to try more food here.