En route from Kyoto to Mt Koya I decided to make a brief stopover at Uji to visit Byodoin temple. Uji is a small town near Nara famous for its green tea. Not surprisingly then the souvenir shops are full of green tea products and the town boasts that it produces the best tea in Japan. As a former resident of Shizuoka – also famous for its green tea – I beg to differ. And shockingly a friend of mine who owns a green tea company informs me that Uji tea makers often mix their tea with Shizuoka tea since the supply of Uji tea is quite limited. You heard it here first! In any case, no visit to Uji would be complete without a matcha (green tea) ice cream!
From a tourist perspective, Uji’s greatest claim to fame is undoubtedly Byodoin temple. This is considered by many people to be Japan’s most beautiful temple. Certainly on a warm clear spring day like when I visited, it looks quite magnificent.
The reflection of this graceful temple can be seen in the pond which sits in front of it. This unique temple features on the reverse side of the ten yen coin.
The entrance fee includes the nearby museum, which I did not visit, and for an additional 300 yen you can also book a tour inside the Phoenix Hall. Unfortunately, there was already a two-hour wait by the time I arrived (about 9:30 am) and I did not have time to fit a tour in before I caught my connection to Mt Koya. Nevertheless, I am still very glad that I stopped off to visit Byodoin as it is indeed a beautiful sight and it would have been nice to have spent a little longer there soaking up the scene.
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