Photos: Ctny · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jim Gateley · CC BY 3.0
Ujigami Shrine sits on the east bank of the Uji River. Its main hall (honden) shelters three small inner shrines side by side, and the worship hall in front of it is Kamakura-period (1215). Both are National Treasures and part of the 1994 Kyoto World Heritage listing.
Why it's unique
The honden of Ujigami Shrine is held to be the oldest surviving shrine building in Japan. Its timbers have been dated to around 1060 by tree-ring dating, a claim repeated by a reference dictionary and by independent guides. Some sources word it as the oldest honden and some as the oldest shrine; the safe wording is the oldest surviving shrine building.
It is also the oldest known case of a hall built in one piece with its inner shrines, and unlike a museum piece it is still a working shrine, so you see it in use.
Before you go
Walk round the side of the honden to see the three inner shrines set side by side under one roof rather than stopping at the worship hall. The spring to the right of the worship hall is Kirihara-sui, the only one of the "Seven Famous Waters of Uji" still flowing. It now serves the purification basin and is not for drinking.
The shrine is a "rabbit shrine", after the legend of a rabbit that guided the enshrined prince, so the charms and fortunes are rabbit-shaped. It closes at 16:00 to 16:20, earlier than most visitors expect.
