When coming to Uji city visiting Byodoin temple, don’t forget to also visit Byodoin Omotesando! Sando (参道) means the road that’s leading toward the temple or shrine, and Omote (表) means the front; so simply this is the road in front of Byodoin temple, leading up to it.
On this street you can find all kinds of products made by Uji tea (Uji Cha, 宇治茶), it is one of the most popular type of tea grown in Japan. If you like green tea or matcha, you should definitely visit this place! It is also a great place for you to try it if you have never had any Uji tea before 👍🏻

Near the end closer to Byodoin temple, you can find a cute store call Wamuu (Wa-mu-u, 和夢兎).

This store sells all kinds of tittle things, mainly the Japanese style ones.
Little things could include handkerchiefs, coin pouches, furoshiki, and more.
And from its name “兎,” the last word “U” means rabbit in Japanese, so at this store you can find a lot of small things with the print of rabbits 🐰

Other than the small things such as coin holders, make up pouch, I would like to recommend their cosmetic products!
They have many types of products that are made with Uji tea~ they smell really nice!
If you’re worried that your skin won’t fit with the product, you can choose to use the hand creams. They offer big and small sizes, so it could also be good for gifts 😊

The store also has a cafe called Wamucha Cafe. The cafe also sells all kinds of food make with Uji tea, it is also introduced by several Japanese TV programs!

On that day we ordered the popular menu: Mapo Matcha Tofu (麻婆抹茶豆腐)

The tofu is made with matcha, the texture is not the same as normal today, it’s very slippery and a bit chewy~
The pepper makes the Mapo tofu smells and tastes good, even in the hot summer, you will still want to continue eating it!

We also ordered Uji tea fried rice on that day~ it was also very tasty 😋

The cafe also has many Japanese dessert that seems tasty, but since there are many other choices at Byodoin Omotesando, we decided to safe the space in our stomach and continue on to different stores ~

Arriving at the famous Ito-Kyuemon, Byodoin store. It is a famous store that makes all kids of sweets and food products with green tea / matcha.

The famous KitKat also has collaboration products with Ito-Kyuemon! You can get some matcha flavored KitKat here!

And the most atttactive product was the alcoholic drinks made with matcha! They also offers free tasting at that time; the Japanese sake with matcha tasted so good we decided to buy one and bring it home to enjoy 😆

Of course there are many sweets that were attractive as well~
To give some examples, there are matcha chocolate, matcha pudding, matcha coockies, Japanese sweets made with match, and much much more!

There are many other stores at Byodoin Omotesando, you should definetly take time to look around! But almost every store sells things made by Uji tea, matcha, and green tea…it makes it too hard to make a decision 😅

And if you visiting Uji in the summer, you should try the match ice cream!
The one we chose to have was Kyoto Rokujouan ‘s (京都 六条庵) Strong Matcha Ice cream (お濃茶アイスクリーム) 😋
The matcha flavor was very strong but not bitter, it was nicely mixed with the sweetness of ice cream~

After filling up our stomachs and getting our Uji souvenirs, it’s time to move on to the next destination~ coming all the way to Uji city, don’t forget to visit other famous attractions other than Byodoin temple ✨

Walking away from Byodoin temple on the Byodoin Omotesando, you will pass by the famous bridge, Yume no Ukihashi (夢浮橋); this bridge is famous because of The Tale of Genji (Genji Monogatari, 源氏物語).
And you can also see the statue of the writer of The Tale of Genji, Murasaki Shikibu (紫式部), in front of the bridge.

Continue walking toward Ujigami Shrine (宇治上神社) while enjoying the beautiful view ~ 👣

Visited 2016/04

Information for Uji Byodoin Omotesando (平等院表参道)

Information for Wamucha Cafe (和夢茶Cafe)

Information for Ito-Kyuemon Byodoin store (伊藤久右衛門)

Information for Kyoto Rokujouan (京都 六条庵)