Mimurodoji　三室戸寺

2001-6-17

Rainy season already arrived in Kyoto and flower of the month is AJISAI　アジサイ(hydrangea). In Kyoto, you can enjoy seasonal flowers in various places: park, temple, shrine and of course, Kyoto Botanical Garden[1]. For ajisai, top of the list are Mimurodoji temple 三室戸寺and Fujimori shrine　藤森神社.

Mimurodoji, located in Uji-shi, South of Kyoto, is one of the most famous places to see ajisai. Boasted to have more than 10,000 bushes, offering more than 100,000 ajisai in all colors, Mimurodoji becomes a favorite spot for ajisai lovers. Apart from ajisai, this temple is also famous for tsutsuji ツツジ(azalea, in May), hasu ハス(lotus, in July) and momiji 紅葉(Japanese maple, in autumn).

My experience:

With thousands of beautiful ajisai spread out the whole hill, this temple is one of my favorite places in Kyoto. My Japanese friend, Kumie, took me here two years ago and I was so impressed how lovely the garden is. This time I went with 1, Ball and Lukpad—and later meet pNat, Shane and Chad there. We took lots of photos, even more than we did in USJ! Strongly recommended as a date spot. J

            Luckily that the day we visited was a fine day. In fact, it’s quite difficult to be there in a sunny day since Kyoto rainy season means cloudy and rainy most of the month. However, if you happen to be there in such gloomy day, I have heard from my friend that you will get another beautiful memorable feeling of the park as well. All flowers will brighten your day anyway.

Opening hours:

Normally, ajisai season is in June. The best time to see, i.e. when ajisai is in full bllom, is the second half of the month. Mimurodoji opens from 8:30-16:30. There is also romantic light-up in the weekend evening, from 19:00-21:00.

To get tickets:

Tickets can be bought from the temple entrance at \400 for adult and \200 for child. Additional \100 must be paid for light-up. If you buy advance ticket from Keihan, you will get \50 discount.

Things to bring:

1.  Camera for unforgettable shots in the park

2.  Hat and sungrasses for sunny day. 

What to buy:

Uji green tea

To get there:

Basic transportation from Kyoto is KEIHAN line, getting off at Mimurodo station. From Kyoto, you need to change at Chushojima station to Uji local line. Mimorodo is one stop before Uji station. The whole trip from Demachiyanagi station takes about 40 minutes. The temple is about one kilometer from Mimurodo station.

However, if you don’t like walking, during ajisai season, there is shuttle bus from KEIHAN Uji station to the entrance of the temple. This will cost \160 for adult and \80 for child and take only 7 minutes. Shuttles run only during the day, check out the time table again from Uji station.

For more information:

Mimurodoji temple: phone 0774-21-2067

KEIHAN railways: 06-6944-2522