Uji: The Aristocrats' Playground Where Fleeting Dreams Linger

Overview

For Heian aristocrats some 1,200 years ago, Kyoto life was the world of officialdom. Uji, located southeast of the capital, was the retreat where they let their bodies and minds run free. It represented the transience of the material world as depicted in the classic novel, The Tale of Genji. The nobles embraced Uji-grown tea, which sustained the tea ceremony, and the pastime of cormorant fishing, and gave them form. Byodo-in was later built by the Jodo Sect to represent the Pure Land of Buddha.