Taking a Day Trip to Uji

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Helen Foster is a Sydney-based author, journalist and content creator. She has traveled to Japan six times and is planning trip seven. Her articles on Japan have appeared in publications including Reader's Digest (Asia Pacific), RAC Horizons, Jetstar Magazine, the Japan National Tourism Organisation website and more. She is a digital publisher member of the Australian Society of Travel Writers.

The Brutalist Station

For such a pretty riverside town, my first stop in Uji involved a lot of concrete!

Uji Keihan Line station is a futuristic architectural design by Hiroyuki Wakabayashi, one of Japan’s most famous architects. His other works include the sleek black Humax Pavilion in Shibuya which houses the Disney Store and some of Japan’s more stylish trains.

But I think this is my favorite example of his work I’ve seen so far.

Built in 1995, its stark concrete design is full of staircases, arches and circles that scream ‘film movies in me’. Photographers are going to love it.

It amused me greatly that the pigeons that nest in the roof don’t seem to care that they’re pooping all over a piece of art!

If you come into Uji from Kyoto on the Keihan Line, you’ll arrive at this station. If you come in from Nara, it’s a short walk down Main Street. Don’t worry about taking the detour, as this leads you to your next stop…

Toward The Shrine with the Bunny Story

After my architecture fix, my destination was Ujigame Shrine, probably Uji’s second most famous shrine, and one with an interesting rabbit-themed link. Before I got there, though, it was time to explore some of the sights that don’t make it into the tourist brochures.

I started by taking Asagiri Street southeast. Along this small riverside road, you’ll find independent cafes and shops to explore.

You can also climb the stairs to the small Hojo-in Temple which contains prayer wheels, poetry and a piece of stone commemorating the building of the Uji Bridge, which is believed to be the oldest stone monument in Japan—although it’s only open for viewing between March 1st and May 31st.

After about ten minutes of walking, I came across the famous Takumi-no Yakata tea shop. This shop offers tea tastings and workshops, and while they say you can walk in for these, they do book out, so if you really want to try one, make sure you book in advance. A few disappointed people arrived the day I was there.

Just walking down here was a peaceful experience. Locals took their daily stroll alongside a handful of tourists, and I enjoyed not knowing what would be around every corner.

The Story of Ujigami Shrine.

Eventually, I reached the large red torii gate, which heralds the entrance to Ujigami Shrine.

People come here to pray for exam success, as it holds the body of the nobleman Prince Wakiiratsuko, considered one of the fathers of education in Japan.

Prince Wakiiratsuko was a very learned man. His father chose him to succeed the throne outside of the line of natural succession, which caused conflict in the family. He actually took his own life to solve the issue and to allow his elder brother to acceed to the throne. His body is interred at the shrine.

So, what has all this got to do with rabbits?

The story is that when Prince Wakiiratsuko first came to Uji he got lost. A rabbit found him and guided him back to town. To ensure he was following him, the rabbit kept looking back to check on the Prince. That’s why many of the rabbits you see around Uji, including those at the shrine, seem to be looking behind them.

There are rabbit fountains, small rabbits with fortunes inside that you can buy as offerings and rabbit goshuin and amulets available to purchase at the shrine.

However, the bunny story isn’t the most interesting thing about Ujigami Shrine. That’s the fact that tree dating of the wood used to make the shrine has discovered it’s ancient. Around the 11th century, makes this one of the oldest shrines in Japan, if not the oldest.

Yet few people come here on day trips, spending more time across the river at the more famous Byodo-in.

One thing to note: because I hadn’t done all my normal research, I didn’t quite realise how far the shrine went back, so I missed a few areas.

Take your time exploring it all.

At this point, I had two choices: keep walking down the same road that the Uji Shrine is on to another shrine complex, or go across to Uji’s biggest sight, Byodo-in – thankfully, I chose option A.

Discovering My Favorite Place in Uji

Do not miss this place.

The complex that contains the seven buildings of Kosho-ji and the pretty garden surrounding them, is located up a long tree–lined walkway but it’s worth the trek up the gentle slope. It was the highlight of my visit to Uji.

In fact, it went on my list of the top 10 things I did on this trip.

Kosho-ji was originally the first zen temple in Japan, built in Kyoto in the 13th century and moved to Uji in the 17th. It still trains monks today, and visitors are also invited to try spiritual practices like Zazen or sutra copying.

This place delighted me.

No-one was there. I literally had the whole place to myself for at least 20 minutes and it’s both beautiful and fascinating.

And some thoughtfully placed chairs allow you to just sit and enjoy the peace of the garden in the middle of one of the buildings. This reflects that fact that Zazen, or the art of just sitting in piece is one of the fundamental elements of the Buddhist sect that owns the complex

For the first time, I managed to properly hear one of the squeaky nightingale floors that were put in many Japanese buildings owned by warring feudal lords to alert the owners to intruders.

The complex is bigger than you might think, and the main hondo, or prayer hall, contains boards from what’s known as the bloody ceiling.

This originally belonged to Kyoto’s Fushimi Castle, the site of one of Japan’s most famous battles. Realising they were going to be defeated, the losing side chose to take their own lives in the castle. Over 300 men died that day, and their bloody hand and foot prints soaked into the wood. When the castle building was destroyed, the blood stained planks were removed and placed in a number of buildings around Kyoto including Koshno-ji.

You have to look closely to see the stains, and I admit I couldn’t work them out as it’s quite dark in the area, but it’s just one of the amazing hidden things in this fascinating complex. Take your time here and explore all the nooks and crannies.

To truly make the most of your visit, spend a few minutes reading about the purpose of the different buildings – I missed the monument to the matcha whisks used in tea ceremonies completely.

The Headline Sight.

From Kosho-ji I crossed Uji’s surprisingly torrid river to visit its headline sight – Byodo-in.

This is the temple that’s on the 10-cent coin and it’s lakeside frontage is incredibly photogenic.

But it’s also very busy – and after paying to get into the grounds, you have to pay an extra fee to go inside the main hall. They only let a handful of people in at once, and in the face of the large queue, this didn’t appeal.

I’d also enjoyed the solitude and surprises of Daishon so much that I couldn’t see how cramming into a room with a load of other tourists could compare.

Instead, I wandered up to the museum set under the hill. This includes close-up details of the things you can see in and around the main temple, such as statues and frescoes.

Personally, I enjoyed my previous stop more, but Byodo-in is beautiful and shouldn’t be missed.

Succumbing to Matcha

I couldn’t totally ignore this despite my dislike of the green stuff. It’s what the city is best known for after all.

Even I was tempted by the idea of trying matcha-green noodles or dumplings for the aesthetics, and the area around Byodo-in is packed with options as the road leading to or from it is lined with small restaurants, most of which have at least one matcha-themed item on the menu.

But I slipped up. I didn’t go in the restaurant closest to the temple exit which had a seat – and it turned out that was the only one without a ridiculous queue. The line for the place where you buy matcha beer and dumplings was ludicrous, so I missed out showing you the fun of eating green soup or dumplings.

It took me all the way to the last patisserie by the station, called Yuji, to succumb, as the smell of pastry as I went past was fantastic. I had a matcha cream puff, which wasn’t bad.

Note: If you are more hungry when you’re here and not a fan of matcha or queues, there is an amazing-looking pizza place down a little mall off the main street. It’s called Antica Pizzeria L’Asinello—it took a lot of willpower not to go in that one!

Visiting the Uji Tea Fields

One thing to note is that even though Uji grabs that matcha headlines, you won’t see tea growing in town. The nearby town of Wazuka is where most of Uji’s team is actually grown. It’s about half an hour’s drive from Uji, but it’s probably better to go on a tour as, the journey is takes nearly three times that by public transport!

The tours also give you the option to actually enter the tea fields, learn about the different types of matcha available, pick your own leaves and of course so some tasting. Try this one.

Note – the tour will pick you up at your Kyoto hotel not in Uji.

The Things I Missed

All of the above took me about half a day to visit.

Because I decided to be off duty this day, I didn’t see every famous site in Uji. You can also visit sights related to The Tale of Genji, one of Japan’s first novels, which was written here.

Written by a woman, The Tale of Genji wasn’t written as an entire novel. It was delivered, chapter by chapter, to the local noblewomen (rather like a less gossipy Lady Whistledown). The last chapters are set in Uji, and the town embraces this with a statue of the author Murasaki Shikibu and a museum about the story.

Summer evenings in Uji are also famous for cormorant fishing, where birds dive down to retrieve fish from the river as they did in days gone by. I would have liked to see this, but it was the wrong season.

How to Get to Uji

If you’re making your day trip to Uji from Kyoto or Nara, it’s easy to get the Nara Line to Uji’s JR Station. This will also be covered by relevant JR Passes like the Kansai Area Pass.

As a quick side note, the Kansai passes that cover Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Hiroshima, and areas around them are some of the few rail passes that pay off now and they can save you quite a lot if you are doing a number of day trip. Find out more about them here.

You can also catch the Keihan Uji Line, which brings you straight into the brutalist station described above.

What Else is Nearby?

You can also easily combine a trip to Uji with a visit to the Nintendo Museum on its outskirts… the two couldn’t be more different leading to a fun-varied day!

You could also visit the Fushimi Sake Village before or after your trip. This is another less crowded area to spend half a day tasting sake.

If you’re staying in Kyoto, you can also combine Uji with a visit to Fushimi Inari and the temples in the Fushimi area.