Japan 2018: Uji and Gion

 This morning we had breakfast in a little cafe around the corner called "Sizuya" (not an exact romanisation, as there is no "si" sound in Japanese, so it's pronounced "shizuya") which is part of a local chain of cafes. They had the usual Japanese "morning set" available- toast & tea or coffee, with a "healthy salad" option as well. They added a hard-boiled egg, which suited us as well. Charlie went for the salad version & I opted for raisin bread. It was delicious. Even chain shop food here is delicious!!

They also dispense wisdom on their salt shakers, as you can see here:

Today's plan was to take the train to Uji, a town a little south of Kyoto that is famous for tea (they grow it there), the Byoudou-In Buddhist Temple, which is a World Heritage Site, and also for being a place where some of the Genji Monogatari ("Tale of Genji", written about 1000 years ago & considered the first novel ever written in any language) takes place. We visited Uji on our fist trip to Japan 11 years ago and it has become a favourite place to revisit whenever we're in Kyoto. Our first visit was in mid-June, right when the first harvest tea is being roasted, & I remember the gorgeous scent of roasting tea wafting out of the shops with great fondness.

On our half-kilometre walk to the train station for the train to Uji we passed a Lawson's convenience store (called "conbini" here) and went in for some gum. The conbinis in Japan often partner with popular games, movies, and anime for special promotions & products. Lawson's has partnered with Pokemon to promote the new "Let's Go Eevee" game, and was selling their fried chicken in Eevee containers (a different one for each flavour :) and I had to take a photo and text it to Brendan, who adores Eevees. He wasn't sure what to think of Eevees selling fried chicken (being vegetarian himself). The packages are pretty cute, though!

To get to the station we cross the very picturesque Kamogawa (Kamo River), which runs very shallow & has wide banks where people like to sit and rest or picnic.

The train trip to Uji took about half an hour and the station we debarked at landed us at another very picturesque river, the Ujigawa.

We crossed the bridge over Ujigawa and headed into the street of shops that leads to the Byoudou-In because that's where my favourite tea shop in (literally) the whole world is. We had happened into the Mitsuboshi tea shop 11 years ago and felt so welcomed & enjoyed their tea so much that we come back every time we're in town. Brendan was 11 years old our first trip, and when we were last here, 3 years ago, he was 19 and the owner's wife was so amazed to see him grown up she nearly cried. This time we were greeted (in English!) by her new, Swiss, son-in-law, who is helping them with the business now. Mitsuboshi has been in business for at least 6 generations and has provided tea to such illustrious historic samurai as Date Masamune.

The 3 red balls on the banner are the mitsuboshi, which means "3 stars".

After buying enough tea to last until our next visit (I hope) we walked back down the street and over the bridge to another favourite place in Uji, Tsuen-jaya, a sweets shop that has been in business for over 800 years, and in the present building since the 1600's (!). They serve the best anmitsu I've ever had. Anmitsu is a sundae-like confection that combines small scoops of vanilla & matcha ice cream and anko (red bean paste) with fruit & mochi, all served on a bed of unsweetened jelly cubes, with your choice of kuroame (black sugar) or matcha syrup to pour on top. Whew! I love it with matcha syrup, & Charlie borrowed some of my syrup to drizzle on his ice cream sundae- which had mostly the same ingredients except the anko, with an emphasis on the ice cream.

When we finished our sweets, we felt fortified enough to wend our way up the opposite side of the Ujigawa, about a kilometre's walk to the Ujigami Jinja. Japanese jinja (Shinto shrines) are often associated with one of the animals of the Jyunishi, or Chinese zodiac. Ujigami is associated with the rabbit, which is Charlie's zodiac animal, so he has a particular fondness for Ujigami. Like most jinja, it's a collection of shrines, small & large, scattered over the grounds. There are multiple purification springs- this one has the water trickling out of a leaping rabbit's mouth. The bunny's head is shinier than the rest of its body because it's lucky to rub the head after you wash your hands.

The main shrine building, called the Honden, is gorgeous & elegant. It's one of the oldest shrines in Japan.

Another purification area has you climb down to a little stream, covered by a building.

And there is a small building that sells omamori (good luck charms) and omikuji (fortunes) too. We stocked-up on omamori :)

On the road from Ujigami back to the train station is another shop we like to visit when in Uji, the Asahiyaki pottery shop. We were surprised to find it in a new building, a bit closer to town, and the owner gave us a newspaper article, printed in English, that talked about their move, a year ago, to a newer shop. It's situated in a very scenic place along the Ujigawa. They still use the original pottery workshop, down the river a little bit, which has been in business since the 1600's. While we were there he treated us to some delicious tea served in their pottery. We left with a couple of gorgeous teacups that will be my Christmas present from Charlie :)

It was just after 1:30 when we headed back to the train station. We weren't hungry for lunch, thanks to the delicious anmitsu, so we thought we'd go back to our hotel, hitting the conbini on the way for lunch food, then walk over to the Gion section of Kyoto in the later afternoon & evening. It was a great plan, with just one flaw... when we changed trains to go back to Kyoto, we got on the one going the wrong way! By the time we figured something was wrong, we were in Osaka! Good grief! I think all the different names of stations and towns started to blend in our heads and all sound familiar. So, instead of a half-hour trip to the hotel, we had an hour trip to Osaka & back to Kyoto. Whee!! At least we could laugh about it. We really needed lunch by the time we got off that train (and a bathroom...).

There is a small amount of healthy food in this photo, really!

So, instead of spending the afternoon and evening in Gion, we left the hotel around 5:00 pm for a 2 km walk to Gion, the center of the legendary "floating world" (entertainment district) made famous in the 18 & 19th century Ukiyo-e prints. It was mobbed, even on a Wednesday night in September when nothing in particular was going on! And there were lots of folks dressed in kimono everywhere :)

We looked at the menus outside random restaurants until something caught our fancy for dinner. A lot of the restaurants had you sitting on the floor in tatami rooms, which doesn't work well with my back these days, but the Gion Mitoko restaurant had a counter around the cooking space where they were happy to seat us. Charlie and I both ordered vegetarian sets that featured tofu served in different, yummy, ways, including yudofu (blocks of soft tofu simmered in a light broth right at the table).

I'm not sure how they treated that paper over the brazier so it wouldn't burn, but it didn't...

There was also vegetable tenppura, with rice and miso soup. It was absolutely delicious. As I was telling the waitstaff how delicious the food was, they asked about where we were from, and we ended-up chatting about our home, compared weather between Rochester & Kyoto, and had a nice time making a connection. It was a lovely end to a beautiful day!

Tomorrow we hope to visit a venerable candy shop and a bamboo forest.