Greetings Hivers,
Today I’m sharing pictures from my trip to Uji in Kyoto during autumn🍁. I went there on an organized tour so I didn’t have to think to much about which stations to get off or buses to take. On the way to Uji we stopped at a local temple where we listened to a lecture and did a meditation excercise. The activities were lead by a monk.
In the second part of the day trip to Kyoto, we went to Uji by chartered bus. There we did a few interesting things.
Things We Did
-Visited to Byodoin Temple (World Heritage Site)
-Had Lunch and a local restaurant
-Ate Matcha sweets
-Got some Leisure time to walk around the Ujigawa area and view the autumn leaves.
-Souvenir shopping
Byodoin Temple/ Phoenix Hall[//]:# (!pinmapple 34.889746 lat 135.807566 long d3scr)
The temple was founded in 1052 and is a UNESCO world heritage site. This particular building on the complex is referred to as the Phoenix Hall and is also featured on the 10yen coin here in Japan.
The Phoenix Hall featured on the 10yen coin
Beautiful leaves from Autumn trees[//]:# (!pinmapple 34.889876 lat 135.813332 long d3scr)
Kyoto is famous for not only temples and shrines but also it’s beautiful autumn foliage.These pictures were taken on our walk near Koshoji temple on the other side of the Uji river.
Ujigawa-Uji River
The Uji area is a landmark in the famous 11th century novel, Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari in Japanese) by Murasaki Shikibu. The story is about a handsome son, Hikaru Genji, born to an Emperor during the Heian Period. If you are intrigued by the drama of present day royalty then you may find great entertainment value in this book. You may also find interest in the morals and fashion from that era. There is also a Tale of Genji Museum pretty close to where we were. You can actually see it on the google map I shared at the beginning. However, we did not have enough time to visit the musuem on this trip.[//]:# (!pinmapple 34.888944 lat 135.811368 long d3scr)
Lunch, Snacks and Souvenirs
There are many restaurants and souvenir shops near the Byodoin Temple. This area is very popular among foreign tourists and locals. Matcha snacks, tea, ice cream are very popular. We enjoyed eating soba noodles at a local restaurant. We also ate matcha ice cream and bought a few matcha sweets as souvenirs.
Even though everyone was wearing masks and there were fewer foreign tourists than usual, we enjoyed our trip to Uji last Autumn.
Stay connected, stay blessed.
