More about Uji

Our trip to Uji was sufficiently interesting that I’ll make another entry on it.

Uji itself is quite an ancient town. It’s home to the Byodo-en temple, which, as I’ve mentioned before, is sufficiently renown to be featured on the 10-yen coin. There is another temple in the area, which I understand to be the oldest wooden structure in existance.

Another attraction of the area is the Genji museum and various sights associated with “The Tale of Genji”. “The Tale of Genji” is considered to be the oldest novel written. It’s a fairly lengthy saga, written by one of the ladies of the court in the 11th century. It tells the story of the life and loves of the Prince Genji and the last 10 chapters are set in Uji.

We were invited to Uji by Yamamoto-san, who is the owner of the Ryokan. He also has a steak-house across the road and a nearby Yaki-tori as well. In addition to all this, Yamamoto-san is the President of the Uji tourist commission and has recently been appointed as the President of the Uji chamber of commerce.

Essentially we were guests of Yamamoto-san for the duration of our stay and he took a lot of trouble to show us around Uji. We were fortunate enough to visit the chambers of commerce and meet with one of the executives there. Like many Australian towns, Uji has suffered something of a decline as young people move away and big shopping centres take over from local shops. Despite this, the chamber remains optimistic about the future of Uji and believe that many of the unique features of the town will ensure a bright future.

The ryokan itself is not inexpensive, but not outrageously priced either. An overnight stay including breakfast and dinner will cost around AUD$300. The rooms are traditional Japanese rooms and you’ll sleep on a futon, which is a thin mattress laid on the tatami-mat floor. It can be uncomfortable if you’re not used to it, but it’s the traditional Japanese way.

If you have dinner in the room, it will be wa-shoku, which is basically traditional Japanese food. There’ll be about 8 or 10 separate small dishes, all selected by the chef depending on the season. For our stay, we went to the steak house for dinner on the first night and had dinner in our room with Yamamoto-san on the second night.

Here is a word of advice. If you come to Uji, eat at the steakhouse. It is absolutely sensational. The degree of care taken is unlike anything I have seen before. Not only is the cut of steak selected, but you can see the origin of the beef and the pedigree of the specific cow! In our case, both cuts of steak were sourced from Kyoto beef. A serial number allows you to check the specific cow that your steak has come from.

The steak is cooked in front of you on a stainless steel plate, then cut into strips so that you can eat with chopsticks. It’s served with two or three dipping sauces, but try some first without the sauce, just to savour the taste of the beef. I genuinely believe that this is among the best food (not just steak) that I have ever eaten.

Dinner in the room is a different matter entirely. First your room is carefully reassembled for dining by one of the traditionally-dressed maids. Then progressively you will be served with the various dishes that are on the menu for that evening. We had grilled fish, a selection of sashimi and shabu-shabu among other things.

Shabu-shabu is a little like the chinese “steam boat” consisting of a small pot of boiling dashi (stock) into which you drop vegetables, tofu and fish (in our case).

I’m not sure that I’ve really done it all justice, but be sure to visit Uji if you’re in the region. It’s about a 20 minute train ride from Kyoto and well worth the trip!