The Uji Ryuo, the ancient grave sites of the Fujiwara clan, going back to the Heian Era 900 years ago, are dotted around the Kohata area of Uji City, Kyoto. There are other Fujiwara connected sites in the area as well. One such location, which is on land now privately owned, but a designated place of public interest, is the site of the villa of crown regent Fujiwara no Motofusa (1144-1230).
Fujiwara no Motofusa served emperors Rokujo and Takakura as regent, and although a high ranking figure he was not to reach the top spot of his clan because of political intrigues and conflicts of and with the imperial Taira house.
Today, the only remains of the Fujiwara villa are earthworks. The buildings are gone. But in the villas place are Edo and Showa buildings that have become the home of the Shoudensansou Tea Association. The buildings are open to visitors a few times during the year for special events though numbers are restricted and advance booking is required. An alternative is to visit with a group of no less than ten and make a special visit booking directly. The details of events and booking can be found on the associations website (link below).
HIDDEN PATHS recently visited the site for the Autumn event to look around the complex and also partake in a tea ceremony. The entrance, at the edge of woodland in a residential part of Kohata is a simple rough road with no signage to imply where it leads.
Following the road around to the left leads to buildings and another grassed pathway towards the main entrance.
Before reaching that point though, there is an old gateway on the right that leads to the gardens. This also leads to where there are two more of the Uji Ryou Fujiwara grave sites in woodland that runs around the complex (we'll come to that later though).
The route continues on before turning to the left and then coming to the main entrance gate at the top of a short flight of stone steps. A little background on how the site became associated with tea, paraphrasing from the Tea Association's website, in 1918, the founder of the school, Takaya Sohan, purchased the land with the aim of reviving not only the small-room tea ceremony that was widely practiced at the time, but also the large-room tea ceremony and shoin-style tea ceremony. The foundation is called "Shoden Sanso Chado Kai," and the tea ceremony that Sohan started is called Sanso-ryu. The Matsudono Sanso Chado Association was granted permission to be established in November 1928 and has continued to this day. This place is also said to be the birthplace of Zen Master Dogen, the founder of the Soto Zen sect. On February 26, 2014, the organization was certified as a public interest incorporated foundation.
Pictures above and below, the main gate of the Shoudensansou Tea Association Lodge.
Once inside the gate you will find yourself in a small garden courtyard that leads then on to the reception area and inside. We will end this blog post at this point and in Part 2 take you inside the building complex and the tea ceremony. Links and access details below.
Telephone 0774-31-8043
Nearest Station Kohata JR /Kowata Keihan
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