- The 75th Uji Tea Festival takes place on Sunday, October 4, 2026, from 9am to 3pm in the riverside area between Uji Bridge and Koshoji Temple; the date follows a fixed rule, the first Sunday of October every year.
- Watching the famous-water ceremony at 9am and the costumed procession along the Uji River costs nothing; the full programme runs on a 5,000 yen advance ticket (5,500 yen on the day) covering two tea seats, a tenshin meal seat, a tasting event and a raffle.
- The festival honours the three ancestors of Japanese tea, Eisai, Myoe and Sen no Rikyu, with a formal tea offering and the ceremonial opening of a sealed jar of the year’s tea at Koshoji Temple from 10am.
- Uji is about 20 minutes from Kyoto Station on the JR Nara Line rapid service, and every festival venue is walkable from JR Uji or Keihan Uji stations.
- Tea-seat and tenshin reservations close at 2pm on festival day, so ticket holders should plan their seatings for the morning and early afternoon.
Most tea festivals are trade fairs with tastings. Uji’s is different: it is a religious and civic rite that the tea industry of Kyoto Prefecture performs for itself, once a year, and visitors are welcome to watch. Water is drawn from the Uji River in the morning, carried through town in period costume, and whisked into matcha offered to the memory of the three men credited with building Japanese tea culture. Around that core, the town lays on tea seats, a tasting game and a raffle. This guide covers the confirmed 2026 date and programme, what the ticket includes, what you can see for free, and how to fold the festival into a day in Uji.
What Is the Uji Tea Festival?
The Uji Tea Festival (Uji-cha Matsuri) is an annual event held in the tea town of Uji, south of Kyoto, to celebrate the achievements of the three figures regarded as the founders of Japanese tea and to pray for the continued development of Uji tea. The 2026 edition, announced by the Kyoto Prefecture Tea Industry Chamber on July 28, 2026, is the 75th. It is run by the Uji Tea Festival Support Association, whose secretariat sits inside the Uji Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The three ancestors the festival honours divide the story of Japanese tea neatly into thirds. According to the Uji City Tourist Association, the priest Eisai brought tea seeds back from Song-dynasty China in 1191; the priest Myoe planted them at Kozanji Temple in Toganoo and later in Uji, beginning the cultivation that produces Uji tea to this day; and Sen no Rikyu (1522 to 1591) shaped tea preparation into the tea ceremony as it is still practised. The festival compresses more than 800 years of that lineage into a single morning of ritual between a bridge and a temple, which is why it earned a place in our roundup of the world’s best tea festivals.
The 2026 Date and Programme
The 75th Uji Tea Festival takes place on Sunday, October 4, 2026, from 9am to 3pm. The organiser states the rule plainly: the festival is held on the first Sunday of October every year. Under that rule the 2027 edition would fall on Sunday, October 3, 2027, but treat future dates as provisional until the official notice appears; the 2026 announcement was posted in late July, so expect confirmation each summer. The secretariat answers questions on 0774-23-3101.
| Time | What happens | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00am | Famous-water drawing ceremony: water is raised from the San-no-ma bay of Uji Bridge | Uji Bridge |
| After the drawing | Procession in period costume carries the water along the Uji River toward Koshoji Temple | Uji riverside |
| 10:00am | Tea offering ceremony, including the cutting of the seal on the new tea jar and an offering of matcha made with Uji River water | Koshoji Temple |
| 9:00am to 3:00pm | Ticketed tea seats, tenshin seat, Uji tea tasting event and raffle | Koshoji Temple, Ujigami Shrine, Kyoto Prefectural Tea Industry Hall |
| 2:00pm | Last reservations accepted for tea seats and the tenshin seat | Festival venues |
The Ceremonies, Explained
The famous-water drawing at Uji Bridge
The day opens at 9am with the meisui kumiage, the drawing of famous water. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the 16th-century unifier of Japan, had water for his tea gatherings drawn from the Uji River, and the festival re-enacts his preference: a bucket is lowered from the San-no-ma, the projecting bay on Uji Bridge built for exactly this purpose, and raised full of river water. A procession in period dress then carries the water along the riverbank toward Koshoji Temple. This is the most photogenic half hour of the festival and it is entirely free to watch, so position yourself near the bridge before 9am.
The tea offering and jar opening at Koshoji Temple
From 10am the ritual centre of gravity shifts to Koshoji Temple, a Soto Zen temple on the east bank whose founding traces to Dogen, the monk who established the school in Japan. Two things happen in a deliberately solemn atmosphere. First, the chatsubo kuchikiri no gi: the sealed jar holding the year’s tea is ceremonially cut open. Spring-picked Uji tea was traditionally packed into jars and left to mature through the summer, so the autumn opening announces that the new tea has come of age; tea people treat the moment the way brewers treat a first cask. Second, the kencha, or tea offering: matcha whisked with the morning’s river water is presented in memory of Eisai, Myoe and Rikyu. Watching a formal offering is not the same as sitting through a full ceremony yourself; if the ritual grammar catches you, book one of the authentic chanoyu experiences in Kyoto on another day of your trip.
Koshoji rewards the walk even outside the ceremony. Its 200-metre approach slope, the Kotozaka, is named for the water channels running down both sides, whose sound was likened to a koto; the slope is a designated scenic spot of Kyoto Prefecture and one of the area’s most famous autumn-foliage corridors, though in early October the maples are still green and the crowds far thinner than in late November.
Tickets: What 5,000 Yen Actually Buys
The ceremonies are free to observe, but the sitting-down parts of the festival run on a combined ticket: 5,000 yen in advance or 5,500 yen on the day. Advance tickets are sold at the Uji Chamber of Commerce and Industry, city tourist information centres and participating tea shops. Reservations for the tea seats and the tenshin seat are accepted until 2pm on festival day, and the meal seats in particular are the ones to lock in early.
| Included in the ticket | Detail and venue |
|---|---|
| Two tea-ceremony seats | Choose among three settings: a tea-comparison event with raffle at Koshoji Temple, a formal seat at the Kyoto Prefectural Tea Industry Hall next to the Takumi no Yakata experience hall, and the shrine seating below |
| Tenshin seat with a light meal | Served at Ujigami Shrine, with complimentary Uji tea |
| Uji tea tasting participation | A guess-the-tea comparison event pitting different Uji teas against each other |
| Raffle ticket | Drawn as part of the Koshoji tea-comparison event |
| Discount admission to the Tale of Genji Museum | Regular adult admission is 600 yen; the museum opens 9am to 5pm, last entry 4:30pm, closed Mondays |
Taken together, the ticket is effectively a progressive tea lunch across three of Uji’s most important sites, two of them ritual spaces that normally offer no tea service at all. Ujigami Shrine, which hosts the tenshin seat, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, so the ticket also buys you the rare experience of eating a festival meal inside a World Heritage precinct.
Attending Without a Ticket
A no-ticket visit still gets you the heart of the festival. The 9am water-drawing at Uji Bridge and the costumed procession along the river are public and free, and the approach to Koshoji lets you watch the arrival of the water even when the offering ceremony inside draws a full crowd. Between events, the tea shops of the town centre serve matcha, tea-noodle lunches and tea-flavoured sweets year-round, so build your own tasting itinerary along the streets between the bridge and Byodoin Temple. The one thing you cannot improvise on the day is a seat at the ticketed tastings once the 2pm reservation cutoff passes, so decide before mid-afternoon whether you want the paid programme.
Getting There from Kyoto
Uji sits 20 minutes from Kyoto Station on the JR Nara Line rapid service, about 30 minutes on local trains, and the line is covered by the Japan Rail Pass. The Keihan Uji Line is the alternative from the Gion and Sanjo side of Kyoto, though the routing is slower, at roughly an hour. Both JR Uji and Keihan Uji stations stand about a 10-minute walk from the river and Byodoin Temple, and the entire festival zone, bridge, riverside, shrine and temple, is walkable. For where to stay, which matcha shops merit a queue and how Uji fits into a longer tea route through the prefecture, use our Kyoto and Uji tea travel guide.
What the Festival Adds to a Normal Uji Day
An ordinary Uji visit, which we map hour by hour in the Uji tea fields day trip guide, revolves around Byodoin Temple, matcha eating and the riverside. The festival changes the calculus in three ways. First, it is the one public morning each year when the water rite and the jar opening are performed, so the town’s tea history stops being a museum caption and becomes a live event with an audience. Second, the ticket opens seatings inside Ujigami Shrine and Koshoji that a regular day trip cannot buy. Third, the timing lands in the sweet spot of the travel calendar: early October in the Kyoto area is past the summer heat, before the November foliage crush, and squarely in the season when the spring harvest, rested over the summer, is declared ready. You will not see tea picking, which belongs to spring, but you will see the moment the year’s tea is pronounced mature, which is arguably the more meaningful milestone.
Related Guides
- Japan Tea Travel Guide: Uji, Kyoto and Shizuoka
- Best Time to Visit Tea Plantations: A Seasonal Guide
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the Uji Tea Festival in 2026?
The 75th Uji Tea Festival takes place on Sunday, October 4, 2026, from 9am to 3pm, in the area between Uji Bridge and Koshoji Temple in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture. The festival is always held on the first Sunday of October, and the organiser confirmed the 2026 date in an announcement posted on July 28, 2026.
How much does the Uji Tea Festival cost?
Watching the water-drawing ceremony, the costumed procession and the temple rituals is free. The combined ticket for the seated programme costs 5,000 yen in advance or 5,500 yen on the day, and includes two tea-ceremony seats, a tenshin meal seat at Ujigami Shrine, a tea-tasting event, a raffle ticket and discounted admission to the Tale of Genji Museum.
What actually happens at the Uji Tea Festival?
At 9am, water is drawn from the San-no-ma bay of Uji Bridge, re-enacting Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s practice of using Uji River water for tea. A costumed procession carries it to Koshoji Temple, where from 10am the year’s sealed tea jar is ceremonially opened and matcha is offered to the three founders of Japanese tea. Tea seats run all day at three venues.
How do I get to the Uji Tea Festival from Kyoto?
Take the JR Nara Line from Kyoto Station to Uji Station, about 20 minutes on a rapid service or 30 minutes on a local train, covered by the Japan Rail Pass. From the Gion side of Kyoto, the Keihan Uji Line takes roughly an hour. Both stations are about a 10-minute walk from Uji Bridge, and all festival venues are walkable from there.
Will the Uji Tea Festival be held in 2027?
Almost certainly, on Sunday, October 3, 2027, since the festival follows a fixed first-Sunday-of-October rule and 2026 marks its 75th consecutive staging. The organiser publishes the official notice in the months before the event, with the 2026 announcement appearing in late July, so confirm on the Kyoto Prefecture Tea Industry Chamber website or by phone before booking travel around it.