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KYOTO PREFECTURE LANDSCAPE ASSET NO. 1

Kyoto Prefecture Landscape Asset No. 1

Registered as No. 1 under Kyoto Prefecture’s Landscape Asset system is Wazuka’s “Uji-cha no Sato: the Tea Fields of Wazuka.” On 24 January 2008, the tea-field landscape spread across four hillsides — Ishitera, Harayama, Kamatsuka and Erihara — was registered by Kyoto Prefecture.

Kyoto Prefecture’s Landscape Asset No. 1 is Wazuka’s “Uji-cha no Sato: the Tea Fields of Wazuka” (location: Ishitera and other areas of Wazuka, Soraku District, Kyoto Prefecture), registered on 24 January 2008. The underlying ordinance is Kyoto Prefectural Ordinance No. 15 of 2007.

The facts

SystemKyoto Prefecture Landscape Asset registration system
Underlying ordinanceKyoto Prefecture Landscape Ordinance (Kyoto Prefectural Ordinance No. 15 of 2007; promulgated 16 March 2007, effective 1 April 2007), Article 12
Legal criteriaCriteria for registering an area: the landscape formed together with its structures has distinctive scenic character in light of the area’s nature, history and culture, is important to good local landscape formation, and can easily be seen by the public from roads or other public places (Enforcement Regulations, Article 2(2))
Asset No. 1“Uji-cha no Sato: the Tea Fields of Wazuka” (location: Ishitera and other areas of Wazuka, Soraku District, Kyoto Prefecture)
CategoryLandscape related to agriculture, forestry, fisheries, commerce and industry
Registered areaFour cohesive districts of hillside tea fields (shown on a map in the conservation plan). Wazuka Town’s Landscape Plan names them as Harayama, Kamatsuka, Ishitera and Erihara. Neither the prefecture’s asset page and conservation plan nor the town’s Landscape Plan gives a figure for the registered area (please ask Kyoto Prefecture)
Registration date24 January 2008
Proposed byNPO Wazuka Organic Tea Growers’ Research Association (Wazuka Yuki Saibai Chagyo Kenkyukai; registered following review by the Kyoto Prefecture Landscape Council)
Reason for registrationRegistered in response to the wish to treat the tea-field scenery that spread across the hillsides with the history of Uji tea as “not just Wazuka’s asset, but something worth passing on to future generations as the home of Uji tea,” and to promote it alongside the promotion of Uji tea in the Yamashiro region, to help the area thrive (Kyoto Prefecture)
Four requirements set by the prefectureAll four must be met: recognised scenic appeal and value (are the landscape’s appeal and value recognised?); accessible to everyone to view (can anyone go and look at it?); sustained local support (does it have the local community’s support and ongoing efforts by many groups and people?); and potential for development (is it growing into community activities that make use of the landscape?)
Number registered26 sites across Kyoto Prefecture (as of September 2026; the latest were registered on 29 March 2018), six of them tea-related, with Wazuka’s as No. 1

Background & significance

Kyoto Prefecture’s Landscape Asset registration system is based on Article 12 of the Kyoto Prefecture Landscape Ordinance, enacted in 2007. It registers familiar local landscapes rooted in each area’s history and culture, together with the local activities that sustain them, in order to share their value with everyone, raise each area’s appeal through publicity, and encourage local landscape-building and community development activities. The asset given No. 1 under this system is Wazuka’s tea-field landscape, spread across four hillsides: Ishitera, Harayama, Kamatsuka and Erihara. According to Kyoto Prefecture’s page, the registration answered a wish to treat this tea-field scenery, which spread across the hillsides with the history of Uji tea, as “something worth passing on to future generations as the home of Uji tea,” and to promote it alongside the promotion of Uji tea in the Yamashiro region to help the area thrive.

Tea growing in Wazuka is said to have begun in the early Kamakura period, when the priest Jishin Shonin of Kaijusenji Temple grew tea at the foot of Mt. Jubu. In the early modern period it spread as a side-line for farm households, and after the Second World War it expanded greatly, spreading across the basin ringed by mountains. Today tea fields line the Wazuka River valley from the foot of the hills to their summits, and the area has come to be called Chagenkyo (rendered “Tea Utopia” in the town’s own English). Shaped by gently rolling hills and small peaks, the ridged rows change with every season — wrapped in morning mist, or green beneath a deep blue sky.

All 26 Kyoto Prefecture Landscape Assets (as of September 2026)

No.NameMunicipality
01Uji-cha no Sato: the Tea Fields of WazukaWazuka
02Kumihama Bay & its oyster farmsKyotango
03The Kehara rice terracesFukuchiyama
04Japan’s timeless countryside: the thatched-roof hamlets of Miyama, NantanNantan
05Fukuchiyama Castle, the spiritual home of the city’s peopleFukuchiyama
06Ide-cho Taisho Pond — a space of healing and exchangeIde
07Tango’s Tateiwa, Byobu-iwa, Tango-matsushima & the Kyogamisaki coastKyotango
08Kotohiki Beach’s white sand, green pines and “singing sand”Kyotango
09View of the Yamashiro Basin from Mandoroyama ParkIde
10Modern industrial heritage at the Gunze Memorial Hall and Hakubutsuen, and their surroundingsAyabe
11Nishinooka / Take no Michi — a green promenadeMuko
12Koto Falls — the light and water of Kyotamba, nurturing the regionKyotamba
13The satoyama landscape of Kamiseya, woven from rice terraces and sasa (bamboo-grass) thatched housesMiyazu
14Ubuya-no-Sato, Obara — wellspring of a beautiful lifeFukuchiyama
15The historic castle-town streetscape of KumihamaKyotango
16The waterside landscape shaped by the Ono Dam — the shore of the “Rainbow Lake,” where people gather and meetNantan
17Miyazu’s Imafuku Falls — a seven-tiered waterfall in the “serpent-rope” villageMiyazu
18Yakuno Basalt Park — columnar & tabular jointing at the former Ogura quarryFukuchiyama
19Keihanna Plaza Sundial Square — a symbol of a science city in harmony with natureSeika
20A leading Uji-tea area, Minamiyamashiro — tea fields climbing to the skyMinamiyamashiro
21Home of high-quality tencha, Yawata — hama-cha tea fields around the Nagare-bashi bridgeYawata
22Hama-cha and bamboo groves, Kozuya, Joyo — Uji tencha nurtured by the Kizu RiverJoyo
23Home of gyokuro, Inooka, Kyotanabe — shaded tea gardens and villages on the hillsidesKyotanabe
24Home of green tea, Yuyadani, Ujitawara — Nagatani Soen’s birthplace and tea-garden landscapeUjitawara
25Mahoroba: Kameoka Kawahigashi — an ancient Tanba landscapeKameoka
26Nishi-Muko — a cherry-lined path and residential landscapeMuko

Of the 26 registered assets, 6 relate to tea (highlighted). Wazuka’s “Uji-cha no Sato: the Tea Fields of Wazuka” leads the list as registration No. 1. Eight sites (Nos. 01–08) were registered on the same day, 24 January 2008; Wazuka Town’s January 2008 announcement says the tea fields were registered “in the first round,” after review by the Kyoto Prefecture Landscape Council.

A few things to note

  • The well-known “Ishitera tea fields” are one of the four registered areas (tourism guides such as Ocha no Kyoto introduce them by that name). The official registered name, covering all four, is “Uji-cha no Sato: the Tea Fields of Wazuka” (Wazuka Town’s announcement of the registration also used a photo taken at Ishitera).
  • The registered area is not Ishitera alone. The conservation plan published by Kyoto Prefecture (proposed by the NPO Wazuka Organic Tea Growers’ Research Association) defines it as “four cohesive districts of hillside tea fields” and marks them on a map; Wazuka Town’s Landscape Plan names them as Harayama, Kamatsuka, Ishitera and Erihara. Neither the prefecture’s asset page and conservation plan nor the town’s Landscape Plan gives a figure for the registered area (please ask Kyoto Prefecture).
  • Kyoto Prefecture’s own page states that the tea fields were registered as “Kyoto Prefecture Landscape Asset No. 1,” and Wazuka Town uses the same wording in its Landscape Plan and elsewhere. Eight sites (Nos. 01–08) were registered on the same day, 24 January 2008. Wazuka Town’s January 2008 announcement says the tea fields were registered “in the first round,” after review by the Kyoto Prefecture Landscape Council.
  • Not to be confused: the figure of about 96 hectares, covering parts of Ishitera, Shirasu, Erihara, Kamatsuka and Harayama, belongs to a different scheme — “The Uji-cha Tea-Field Landscape of Wazuka,” selected as a Kyoto Prefecture Cultural Landscape by the Kyoto Prefectural Board of Education on 21 March 2008, about two months after the Landscape Asset registration. Please avoid mixing up the two schemes.
  • In addition, on 24 January 2022 Wazuka Town designated the Ishitera district, one of the registered areas (all of Ishitera, 121.7 ha, according to the town’s Landscape Plan), as a town Priority Landscape District (Type 1), setting standards to follow when buildings and structures are built or repaired, with the aim of resident-led, landscape-based community building. The town is also working towards selection as a national Important Cultural Landscape: in February 2026 it put the draft of its Cultural Landscape Preservation and Utilisation Plan out for public comment, fully revised its Landscape Ordinance in March and revised its Landscape Plan in April (as of September 2026; please check with Wazuka Town for the latest status).

🍵 Taste the landscape

After the view, finish with a taste: the Wazuka tea parfait (680 yen) — and then on to the tea-field scenery in our photo gallery.

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