Uji｜Matcha and Byodoin, 30 Minutes from Kyoto

Central Kyoto fills up during cherry blossom and autumn foliage season. On days when you still want to see historic architecture and spend time with Japanese culture, Uji is the answer. It is under 30 minutes by train from Kyoto Station, holds two World Heritage shrines and temples, and has a long history as a producer of green tea.

Thirty minutes from Kyoto, and considerably quieter

Uji sits directly south of Kyoto City. According to the city's own guidance, a rapid service on the JR Nara Line takes about 16 minutes from Kyoto Station — no longer than crossing the city itself.

The atmosphere, though, is quite different. The sound of the Uji River running through the centre, the paths along its banks, the smell of tea drifting along the approach roads. This is a river town, laid out on entirely different logic from Kyoto's grid. Even when the major temples in the city are crowded, Uji usually allows you the time to look properly at buildings and gardens.

Two of Uji's sites are inscribed as World Heritage properties: Byodoin and Ujigami Shrine. Both were registered in 1994 as part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto.

Byodoin — the Phoenix Hall and Hoshokan museum

Byodoin is where most visits to Uji begin. According to Kyoto Prefecture, the site began as a villa belonging to Minamoto no Shigenobu, which passed to Fujiwara no Michinaga; his son Fujiwara no Yorimichi converted it into a temple in 1052. The Amida hall, crowned with phoenix figures on its roof, later became known as the Phoenix Hall.

The Phoenix Hall is a National Treasure. Inside sits a seated Amida Nyorai carved by Jocho, the defining sculptor of the Heian period. The garden and pond together were designed to reproduce, in this world, a vision of the Pure Land. Seen straight on from the far side of the pond, the building is better balanced than photographs suggest.

The other thing not to miss is Hoshokan, the museum within the grounds. Opened in 2001, it holds — according to Byodoin's own guidance — a National Treasure temple bell, 26 of the Unchu Kuyo Bosatsu (bodhisattvas on clouds), and a pair of phoenix figures. There are 52 of the bodhisattva figures in total, and here you can see some of them at close range. Roof tiles and other finds from the temple's founding period are displayed alongside digital reconstructions.

Byodoin is also familiar from Japanese currency. As Uji City explains, the Phoenix Hall appears on the face of the ten-yen coin, and the phoenix figure was used on the reverse of the 10,000-yen note. The phoenix appeared on the holographic 10,000-yen note issued in 2004; the current note, issued from 2024, shows Tokyo Station on its reverse instead. Comparing the coin in your pocket with the building in front of you changes the experience slightly.

Ujigami Shrine, and the bridge across the river

On the east bank, across the Uji River, stands the second World Heritage site: Ujigami Shrine. According to Kyoto Prefecture's tourism information, the main hall, a National Treasure, dates from the late Heian period and is the oldest surviving shrine building in Japan. Three halls in the nagare-zukuri style stand side by side, the outer two larger than the one at the centre. The worship hall, also a National Treasure, is said to incorporate remains of the Uji detached palace and preserves the character of shinden-style residential architecture.

The grounds are not large, and nothing about them is showy. Even so, standing in front of timber buildings that have held the same ground for so long produces a quiet quite unlike Byodoin's. Until 1868 the shrine formed a single institution with Uji Shrine below it by the river, and it is said to have served as the guardian shrine of Byodoin.

The two banks are joined by Uji Bridge. Uji City records it as an ancient crossing, said to have been built in 646 by the Nara monk Dōtō; the present structure dates from 1996. The projecting platform on the upstream side, known as San-no-ma, is where Toyotomi Hideyoshi is said to have drawn water for tea. The view from the bridge is, in effect, the shape of the town itself.

The closing chapters of The Tale of Genji

Uji is also bound up with The Tale of Genji. Uji City dates Murasaki Shikibu's writing of the work to the middle of the Heian period, around the year 1000. The final ten of its 54 chapters are set mainly in Uji, and are known as the Uji Chapters.

They read very differently from Genji's glittering earlier life: a quiet, sorrowful story woven around two men, Kaoru and Niou, and three women, Oigimi, Nakanokimi and Ukifune. It begins with "The Lady at the Bridge" and ends with "The Floating Bridge of Dreams". The river mist over the Uji is generally understood to be essential stage machinery for these closing chapters.

If you want the background, the Tale of Genji Museum is the place. It displays a full-size reconstruction of an ox carriage and period furnishings, a scale model of Genji's Rokujo residence, and screens short films. It is about 8 minutes on foot from Keihan Uji Station, or 15 from JR Uji Station. Monuments and historic markers relating to the Uji Chapters are scattered around the town.

Uji tea, and where to drink it

On the origins of Uji tea, the city explains that Myoe is said to have brought tea seeds to Uji after receiving them from Eisai in the early Kamakura period. Records from the Nanboku-cho period, however, rank the tea of Toganoo in Kyoto as the finest; Uji tea was not recognised as the best until the middle of the Muromachi period.

What made Uji decisive as a producer of matcha was shaded cultivation. According to Kyoto Prefecture, tea masters in Uji devised the method in the late Muromachi period: covering the fields with reeds and straw in early summer to block sunlight and keep the young leaves tender. The result was matcha with more umami and a deeper green. The "seven famous gardens of Uji", established under Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, belong to the same era.

Today's tea houses and matcha sweets sit at the end of that line. Byodoin Omotesando, running from the temple gate towards Uji Bridge, is lined with long-established tea merchants, tea rooms serving matcha, confectioners, udon shops and Kyoto restaurants. It is walkable from both JR and Keihan Uji stations. Most visitors come for the sweets, but choosing leaf tea at a merchant's counter is its own Uji pleasure.

Getting there, and shaping the day

One thing to watch: there are two Uji stations. JR Uji on the Nara Line, and Keihan Uji on the Keihan Uji Line. Same name, different places, roughly west and east of the river. When you decide on a return train, check which one you mean.

From Kyoto Station, the JR Nara Line is the straightforward option — about 16 minutes by rapid service, with Miyakoji Rapid trains also stopping at Uji. From Osaka, or from Sanjo and Gion-Shijo in Kyoto, the Keihan is more convenient: take the Keihan Main Line to Chushojima and change to the Uji Line. From Sanjo or Gion-Shijo, allow about 30 minutes via Chushojima.

For walking times, Uji City gives 10 minutes from JR Uji Station to Uji Bridge, and says Keihan Uji Station is right beside it. Byodoin's official access page puts the temple about 10 minutes on foot from the stations.

One workable route: from JR Uji Station, walk Byodoin Omotesando into Byodoin, see the Phoenix Hall and Hoshokan, then cross Uji Bridge for Uji Shrine, Ujigami Shrine and the Tale of Genji Museum, and take the train home from Keihan Uji. Allow around four hours to see Byodoin properly, or five to six if you add a tea house and the museum. Leave Kyoto Station in the morning and you will be back in the city by evening.

When the crowds in central Kyoto start to wear on you, or when you have a spare day in the schedule, Uji is a good place to spend it quietly.

Information in this article is current as of August 2026. Opening hours, admission fees and business hours are subject to change. Please check official information for each site before visiting.