Tale of the Genji
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October 30, 2014 - Tale of the Genji
We took the train to Uji and made straight for Byodo-in temple. A lovely temple with a dash of late spring colour in the form of azaleas. Byodo-in dates from the Heian period and was built by the Fujiwara's and was a favourite retreat of the Heian court.
From Byodo-in we called in at the Tourist Information Centre and the adjacent Taiho-an tea house and participated in a 30 minute tea ceremony (not the usual 2 minute shinkansen version).
Crossing the river Uji, which is fast flowing and reasonably shallow, we called in at Kosho-ji temple, a Zen temple with a white Chinese style gate and quiet pleasant grounds.
We bypassed the Uji shrines and headed for the modern building of the Tale of Genji Museum. The glass fronted building was nicely integrated with the garden and accessed via a bridge over a pond. A film acts out the last section of the Tale which was based in and around Uji a favoured retreat for the Heian aristocracy.
We skirted along the foothills and followed the road to Mimurodo-ji temple, known as the flower temple for both it's azaleas and hydrangeas - it was ablaze with colour. The path-side banks were covered in flowering shrubs of several kinds and the hillside opposite covered with several acres of azaleas in pink, white and mauve. It is reputed to have planted 20,000 azaleas. There was an excellent dry garden and pond garden with this colourful backdrop. The temple was high on the hillside and had many tubs of lotus plants flowering later in the season.
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List of Posts:
2017/07/25 - Japan's tectonic landscape reflected in the gardens 2017/07/15 - Flora of Japan 2016/04/27 - Time in Asakusa 2016/04/25 - Kakunodate 2016/04/23 - A Thousand Cranes 2016/04/22 - Castle in the Clouds 2016/04/21 - The beauty of Koraku-en 2016/04/20 - Far from the Madding Kyoto Crowds - Part 1 2016/04/20 - Far from the Madding Kyoto Crowds - Part 2 2016/04/18 - A Day in the Mountains 2016/04/17 - Delights of Hikone 2016/04/16 - Nara Revisited 2015/01/03 - Kamakura temples and gardens 2015/01/01 - Takayama Temple Trail 2014/12/29 - Kurama - Kibune hiking trail 2014/11/10 - A visit to Himeji 2014/11/05 - Shigemori Mirei - The Rebel in the Garden 2014/11/04 - Arashiyama and nearby sights 2014/11/03 - The less visited sites of Nara 2014/11/03 - The gems of Matsue 2014/10/31 - Agon-shu Monastery 2014/10/30 - In the footsteps of the Shogun 2014/10/30 - Tale of the Genji |
