Ujigami Shrine

Ujigami Shrine stands in Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture, on the east bank of the Uji River at the foot of Mt. Daikichi (also called Mt. Buttoku). It is about a 10-minute walk from the east end of Uji Bridge, on the opposite side of the river from Byodo-in, which is reached from the bridge's west end. Its deities are three: Emperor Ojin and his sons, Emperor Nintoku and Uji no Wakiiratsuko. According to the Kyoto School Trip Navi, Uji no Wakiiratsuko is said to have taken his own life so that his elder brother could become emperor. In 1994 the shrine was inscribed as a World Cultural Heritage site, one of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto.

Until the Meiji period, it formed a single pair with neighboring Uji Shrine, and the two were called Rikyu Kami-sha. According to Ochanokyoto, it was originally one with Uji Shrine, the lower shrine, and is said to have been the guardian shrine of Byodo-in. The grounds hold subsidiary shrines such as the Kasuga Shrine, built in the Kamakura period. The Kirihara spring, which wells up steadily, is one of the Seven Famous Waters of Uji, and the Japan Heritage guide says it is the only one of the seven that survives today.

The National Treasure Main Sanctuary is a late Heian building, and Kyoto Prefecture and Uji City describe it as the oldest surviving example of shrine architecture. Its form is unusual: three small inner shrines, each in the one-bay nagare-zukuri style, stand side by side in a row, all covered by a single outer shelter. The shelter itself is five bays wide and three bays deep in the nagare-zukuri style, with a cypress-bark roof. According to Ochanokyoto, the two inner shrines on the left and right are large and the one in the center is small. From outside it looks like one building, but knowing that three shrines sit inside changes how you see it.

The Worship Hall, which stands at the front of the grounds, is also a National Treasure and is dated to the early Kamakura period; Kyoto Prefecture places it at the very beginning of that period. It is a gable-roofed building six bays wide and three bays deep, with a one-bay pent roof (hisashi) at each gable end and a one-bay front porch (kohai), roofed with cypress bark. Kyoto Prefecture describes it as a building that carries on the shinden-zukuri style of aristocratic houses and singles out the beauty of its roof, which uses a technique called sugaru-hafu. Ochanokyoto describes it as a residence-like building in the shinden-zukuri manner, said to be a relic of the Uji Detached Palace.

The Main Sanctuary and the Worship Hall differ in both date and construction, so you can compare two very different National Treasures in one compound. Across the Uji River is Byodo-in's Phoenix Hall, a National Treasure built in 1053, and you can cross Uji Bridge to visit both. A stop at Uji Shrine, once paired with this shrine, helps you understand their relationship from the days when they were called Rikyu Kami-sha. Uji City recommends public transport during Golden Week and the autumn tourist season, when roads are expected to be very congested.