Uji City Tale of Genji Museum

The later chapters of The Tale of Genji are set in Uji. In that very town, the Uji City Tale of Genji Museum opened in 1998. The galleries are divided into rooms such as the Heian Room, the Uji Room and the Monogatari Room. Through reconstructed models and film, visitors can learn about the daily life of Heian aristocrats and about the story itself.

The core of the exhibition is film and sound. The Heian Room introduces the story of Hikaru Genji and the life and culture of the Heian aristocracy, while the Uji Room conveys the plot of the Uji Chapters, the final ten chapters of the tale, with sound and lighting. In the video gallery, three works are shown in rotation: "Ukifune", a puppet-theater piece themed on the Uji Chapters; "Hashihime", a live-action work; and the animation "GENJI FANTASY: A Cat Fell in Love with Hikaru Genji", which explores how The Tale of Genji came to be. Each runs about 20 minutes. In the Monogatari Room, visitors can try "The Moving Tale of Genji" and "Genji-ko", an incense-guessing game.

The museum was renewed in September 2008, when it marked its tenth anniversary. It has a museum shop and a cafe (restaurant), so you can take a break after your visit. Its collection includes the "Osawa-bon", regarded as a lost manuscript of The Tale of Genji, and the museum also collects and preserves related materials.

Uji has many sights, including the Byodo-in, and temples and shrines are also gathered within walking distance of the museum. Ujigami Shrine, already listed on this site, is about 200 meters away and Byodo-in about 600 meters. The museum's own guide names Mimurotoji, Ujigami Shrine and Uji Shrine, the Fukujuen Uji Kobo and Asagiri Bridge as nearby sights. If you grasp the flow of the story at the exhibits and then walk around, you can picture the bridge and the riverside as scenes from the Uji Ten Chapters.

To get here, it is about 8 minutes on foot from Uji Station on the Keihan Uji Line, or about 15 minutes on foot from Uji Station on the JR Nara Line. From Kintetsu Okubo Station it is about 15 minutes by bus plus about 8 minutes on foot from the Keihan Uji bus stop. Visiting by public transport is recommended, but if you come by car there is parking for 15 cars and 4 buses. Walking around together with Ujigami Shrine and Byodo-in lets you take in both the world of the tale and the streets of Uji in a single day.