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JAPAN HERITAGE

Japan Heritage — “A Historical Walk through 800 Years of Japanese Tea”

Certified by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs on 24 April 2015 as the Japan Heritage story “A Historical Walk through 800 Years of Japanese Tea” (Kyoto Prefecture, which applied, adds the subtitle “Kyoto, Yamashiro”), and judged “certification continued” in the FY2024 review. Wazuka’s tea-field landscapes and Kontaiji Temple on Mt. Jubu are among the story’s constituent cultural properties.

The Japanese name is “Nihoncha 800-nen no Rekishi Sanpo” (Japan Heritage Portal, STORY #009); Kyoto Prefecture, which submitted the application, adds the subtitle “Kyoto, Yamashiro”. In English it appears as “A Historical Walk through 800 Years of Japanese Tea.” It was certified on 24 April 2015 with constituent properties in 8 municipalities; in April 2016 properties in 4 more towns were added, so it now spans all 12 municipalities of the Yamashiro region. It was judged “certification continued” in the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ FY2024 review.

The facts

Name「日本茶800年の歴史散歩」 (Nihoncha 800-nen no Rekishi Sanpo; Japan Heritage Portal, STORY #009). Kyoto Prefecture, which applied, and Ocha no Kyoto add the subtitle 「～京都・山城～」 (“Kyoto, Yamashiro”)
Name in English“A Historical Walk through 800 Years of Japanese Tea” (as used by The KANSAI Guide, an English-language tourism site; we could not find an English name on the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ Japan Heritage Portal as of September 2026)
Certified24 April 2015
ExpandedApril 2016 — constituent properties in Kumiyama, Ide, Kasagi and Seika towns were added, so that all 12 Yamashiro municipalities now have constituent properties
12 constituent municipalitiesUji, Joyo, Yawata, Kyotanabe, Kizugawa, Kumiyama, Ide, Ujitawara, Kasagi, Wazuka, Seika, Minamiyamashiro
Continuation review resultsBoth the FY2021 (Reiwa 3) and FY2024 (Reiwa 6) Agency for Cultural Affairs “comprehensive evaluation and continuation review” results were “certification continued”
Wazuka’s constituent properties (3 entries)① the tea fields of Ishitera, Shirasu, Erihara and Kamatsuka ② the tea fields of Yubune and Harayama ③ Kontaiji Temple on Mt. Jubu (Important Cultural Properties including its two-storey pagoda (tahoto), hokyointo stone pagoda and wooden seated Miroku Bosatsu; the temple precincts are a National Historic Site)
Total constituent properties33 on the Japan Heritage Portal’s list (as of September 2026). Kyoto Prefecture’s list after the April 2016 expansion shows 32, and the tea fields of the Ogura district of Uji were added in April 2017

Background & significance

“Japan Heritage” is a scheme, established in FY2015, under which Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs certifies “stories” that convey Japan’s culture and traditions through a region’s historical appeal and character. Its aim is to revitalise the region: local bodies take the lead in developing and using the cultural properties each story depends on, and in promoting them at home and abroad. This story traces the history and culture of tea cultivated over centuries across the Kyoto Yamashiro region, through tea-field landscapes, temples and shrines, and sites tied to tea processing. In Wazuka, the tea fields of Ishitera, Shirasu, Erihara and Kamatsuka, the tea fields of Yubune and Harayama, and Kontaiji Temple — a Shugendo mountain temple on Mt. Jubu said to have been founded by En no Gyoja — are constituent cultural properties of this story.

Agency for Cultural Affairs continuation review (FY2024)

CategoryItemResult
I. Achievement of plan goalsOverallPass (targets for visitor numbers, overseas visitors and economic impact were not met, but goals such as residents’ sense of pride were largely achieved)
II. InitiativesOrganisational structurePass
II. InitiativesStrategyPass
II. InitiativesHuman resource developmentPass
II. InitiativesInfrastructure/interpretationFail
II. InitiativesTourism developmentPass
II. InitiativesPublic awarenessPass
II. InitiativesInformation editing & communicationPass
II. InitiativesOverallPass

In the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ FY2024 (Reiwa 6) “comprehensive evaluation and continuation review” (announced 23 July 2024), this story was judged “certification continued.” The review praised the promotion structure and vision centred on the Ocha no Kyoto DMO, the training of certified “Uji-cha Chameliers” (Uji tea sommeliers), a sightseeing loop-bus service that gives visitors a way to get around an area where travel is difficult, premium branding of Uji tea, a “Kids’ Chamelier” certification test for elementary and junior high school students, and an online Uji-cha Chamelier course. The infrastructure/interpretation item, however, was rated “fail” because the length-of-stay indicator had not been measured, and further strengthening of this work was recommended; the review also suggested considering projects to hand down the constituent properties to future generations. Its overall assessment recommended, among other points, further enriching hands-on and longer-stay experiences, and on the organisational side it hoped for concrete steps towards self-sustaining operation and closer ties with community-development and cultural-property departments.

The story, in brief

The story traces some 800 years in which Minami-Yamashiro, in southern Kyoto Prefecture, kept refining the techniques of growing and making tea first introduced from China, producing all three of Japan’s signature teas — matcha, sencha and gyokuro.

  • 13th century — the priest Myoe is said to have taught the people of Uji the tea-growing methods that Zen master Eisai had brought back from China; legend, recorded on the Komanoashikage-en monument, has it that he had them sow the seeds in his horse’s hoofprints. Wazuka’s own tea is said to have begun when the priest Jishin of Kaijusenji Temple received tea seeds from Myoe in the Kamakura period and grew them at the foot of Mt. Jubu. The list of this story’s constituent properties compiled by Kyoto Prefecture names the spot as Harayama, at the foot of Mt. Jubu, which is still part of the constituent property “the tea fields of Yubune and Harayama”
  • 15th century — earning the favour of the Ashikaga shogunate, the finest open-field tea is produced at the “Seven Famous Gardens”
  • 16th century — shaded cultivation produces a deep-green, richly savoury matcha
  • 18th century — Nagatani Soen develops the “Uji method” of steaming and hand-rolling, giving rise to sencha, which today accounts for about 80% of the tea in circulation in Japan (his birthplace in Ujitawara is about 20 minutes by car from Wazuka no Sato)
  • After sencha spread — to meet rising demand, farmers in Yubune, Harayama and other upland parts of Wazuka clear the slopes behind their homes just as they lie, planting contour rows of tea up to mid-slope: the “yamanari” (mountain-shaped) tea fields
  • Late Edo period — combining shaded cultivation with the Uji method gives birth to gyokuro, rich in sweetness and depth
  • Meiji era — export demand for sencha surges alongside that for raw silk, and new growing areas are needed; a highland pioneer village is opened at Dosenbo (Minamiyamashiro), and a tea-wholesaler district grows up at Kamikoma (Yamashiro-cho, Kizugawa)
  • 20th century onward — to grow still more leaf, fields are cleared right up to the summits (“yamanari kaikon”), spreading the horizontally ridged tea landscapes of Ishitera, Erihara, Harayama and elsewhere in Wazuka, rising as if to reach the sky

A few things to note

  • Kyoto Prefecture’s Yamashiro Regional Promotion Bureau calls it “Japan Heritage No. 1” (Kumiyama Town describes it as Kyoto Prefecture’s first). On the Japan Heritage Portal it is STORY #009: one of the 18 stories certified in the scheme’s first year (FY2015), and the first Japan Heritage story in Kyoto Prefecture.
  • The “Inayazuma Physician’s Tea Garden” is sometimes mentioned in connection with Wazuka, but the Japan Heritage Portal lists it in Seika Town. Wazuka’s constituent properties are three entries covering seven places: the tea fields of Ishitera, Shirasu, Erihara and Kamatsuka; the tea fields of Yubune and Harayama; and Kontaiji Temple on Mt. Jubu.
  • In the FY2021 review, the story was rated “fail” for I. Achievement of plan goals and “pass” for II. Initiatives, and was placed in the same “certified” category (certification continued) as in FY2024.
  • After properties in Kumiyama, Ide, Kasagi and Seika were added in April 2016, Kyoto Prefecture’s list showed 32 constituent properties (the Ocha no Kyoto site also gives a total of 32). A Kyoto Prefecture announcement dated 28 April 2017 added the tea fields of the Ogura district of Uji (a traditional shaded tea garden under reed screens, in an area said to be a birthplace of gyokuro), and the Japan Heritage Portal now lists 33 (as of September 2026). The number at the original certification in 2015 is not stated in the sources we could check. (Ogura addition: Kyoto Prefecture announcement; total of 33: Japan Heritage Portal list.)

🍵 Taste 800 years of tea

Eight hundred years of tea history, on a single plate. The Japan Heritage story itself notes that Yamashiro’s tea leaves are enjoyed in “traditional tea dumplings” as well as Western-style sweets. Our Cha-tarashi dango (680 yen) are grilled tea dumplings finished with a drizzle of matcha sauce.

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