Service Description

Uji is a place where Japan slows down — where culture, nature, and refinement meet along the gentle flow of the river. Best known as the home of Japan’s finest matcha, Uji is also a city of deep historical and literary importance. Here stands Byōdō-in, one of Japan’s most celebrated temples, whose Phoenix Hall has become an enduring symbol of harmony, balance, and Pure Land Buddhist thought — an image so powerful it appears on the ¥10 coin. But Uji is more than a single monument. Walking along the river and through quieter streets, the town reveals itself through smaller shrines and temples, subtle landscapes, and stories rooted in the Heian period. Uji is inseparable from classical literature: it is a key setting of The Tale of Genji, written by Murasaki Shikibu, where emotion, impermanence, and human relationships are explored with extraordinary sensitivity. Tea here is not just a product, but a philosophy. From cultivation to ceremony, matcha reflects ideas of discipline, seasonality, and attention — values that echo throughout Japanese culture. Along the way, there is time to experience local tea shops, craftsmanship, and everyday life shaped by centuries of tradition. Uji feels quietly magical — a place where literature, spirituality, and nature merge, and where Japan reveals itself not through grandeur, but through grace.