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KYOTO PREFECTURE'S LARGEST TEA-GROWING AREA

Kyoto Prefecture's Largest Tea-Growing Area

According to Kyoto Prefecture statistics, Wazuka ranked No. 1 within Kyoto Prefecture for crude-tea production every year from FY2019 to FY2025 and, as a main production area of Uji tea, produces roughly 40–50% of the prefecture's tea leaf.

According to Kyoto Prefecture's tea statistics, Wazuka ranked No. 1 within Kyoto Prefecture for crude-tea production every year from FY2019 to FY2025 (this page shows the latest six years; its share in FY2020–FY2025 was 43.5–49.2%). In the most recent year, FY2025, crude-tea production was 884,889kg, or 44.8% of the prefecture's total (1,973,335kg). Wazuka Town's own website says: “Wazuka, a town of tea, is a main production area of Uji tea, producing about 45% of Kyoto Prefecture's tea leaf.” (our translation)

The facts

Crude-tea production (FY2025)Wazuka 884,889kg (884.9t) / Kyoto Pref. total 1,973,335kg → 44.8% share
Rank within Kyoto PrefectureNo. 1 every year from FY2019 to FY2025 (FY2025 runner-up: Minamiyamashiro Village, 424,966kg, roughly half of Wazuka's total)
Share trend, FY2020–FY202543.5% → 47.6% → 47.5% → 49.2% (six-year high) → 49.1% → 44.8%
Tea-cultivation area (FY2025)529.8ha (38.5% of Kyoto Prefecture's total; No. 1 in the prefecture, about twice runner-up Ujitawara's 256.6ha)
Strengths by tea typeShares of 57.1% for sencha, 53.2% for kabusecha and 49.0% for tencha (the raw material for matcha) in FY2025 — No. 1 in the prefecture for all three (Kyoto Prefecture, municipal rankings of 2025 tea production)
Wazuka Town's own description“Wazuka, a town of tea, is a main production area of Uji tea, producing about 45% of Kyoto Prefecture's tea leaf.” (our translation)

Background & significance

Wazuka is a hill town in Soraku District, in the south of Kyoto Prefecture. The prefecture describes it as an area whose tea fields reach right up to the ridgelines and show a different beauty in every season — “a place that could be called the original landscape of Japanese tea” (our translation). In Kyoto Prefecture's tea statistics (its annual report on tea production and distribution, formerly the Kyoto Tea Industry Statistics), Wazuka ranked first among the prefecture's municipalities for crude-tea output every year from FY2019 to FY2025, and it is known as a main production area of Uji tea. According to the same prefectural page, Wazuka's tea reaches the whole of Japan as high-quality Uji tea, thanks to the cultivation skills of tea masters (chashi) and the blending skills of tea merchants. Under the definition of the Kyoto Prefectural Tea Council (Kyoto-fu Chagyo Kaigisho), “Uji tea” is tea grown in Kyoto, Nara, Shiga or Mie and finished within Kyoto Prefecture by Kyoto-based businesses. Right here in this tea-growing area, the farm shop at Wazuka no Sato lets you see and pick up for yourself tea that has passed through growers' hands.

Production trend (six years)

Fiscal yearWazuka productionKyoto Pref. totalWazuka's share
FY2020962,707kg2,212,552kg43.5%
FY20211,089,831kg2,291,883kg47.6%
FY20221,136,559kg2,394,119kg47.5%
FY20231,193,960kg2,427,207kg49.2% (six-year high)
FY20241,224,178kg2,492,384kg49.1%
FY2025884,889kg1,973,335kg44.8%

Across the six years from FY2020 to FY2025, Wazuka ranked No. 1 within Kyoto Prefecture every year, with a 43.5–49.2% share. In FY2025 the prefecture's total crude-tea output fell to 79.2% of the previous year's (while its value rose to 190.7% of the previous year's, and to 224.0% for tencha). Wazuka's share that year was slightly below its six-year high of 49.2% in FY2023.

Cultivation area over time, and share by tea type

Fiscal yearCultivated areaTotal tea-field area (incl. abandoned fields)
FY2020568.3ha577.0ha
FY2022554.3ha560.1ha
FY2024541.0ha548.1ha
FY2025529.8ha536.9ha

(Selected years: FY2020, FY2022, FY2024, FY2025.) Against Kyoto Prefecture's total tea-cultivation area of 1,377.1ha in FY2025, Wazuka's share is 38.5%. Wazuka's cultivated area fell by about 7% from FY2020 to FY2025 (568.3ha to 529.8ha). In FY2025, however, its share of the prefecture's crude-tea output was 44.8%, higher than its share of the area, so it produced more per hectare than the prefectural average (about 1,670kg/ha against about 1,433kg/ha, calculated from the cultivated area and crude-tea output in the prefecture's FY2025 report).

Share of Kyoto Prefecture's output by tea type (FY2025)

Tea typeWazukaKyoto Pref. totalWazuka's share
Sencha115,706kg202,468kg57.1%
Tencha (matcha base)476,658kg973,761kg49.0%
Kabusecha31,964kg60,106kg53.2%
Gyokuro3,287kg94,262kg3.5%

Ujitawara alone accounts for about 70% of Kyoto Prefecture's gyokuro (2025), and Wazuka ranks fifth with only a small share — but in sencha, kabusecha and tencha (the base for matcha), Wazuka ranks No. 1 in the prefecture (Kyoto Prefecture, municipal rankings of 2025 tea production). Tencha here excludes autumn tencha, which the prefecture counts separately (Wazuka: 193,169kg, 45.8% of the prefecture's). Together, tencha and autumn tencha make up about three-quarters (75.7%) of Wazuka's crude tea — the raw material for matcha.

Tea-related events & characteristics

  • Chagenkyo Matsuri — the town's festival, whose name comes from Chagenkyo (rendered “Tea Utopia” in the town's own English), held at Wazuka Sports Park and nearby facilities and drawing some 6,000–7,000 visitors. The FY2026 edition is on Sunday 8 November 2026, 10:30–18:00 (finale from 17:30). The grounds fill with food stalls, local products and tea activities, along with an outdoor stage, and fireworks are planned for the finale. The timing varies from year to year (the 2023 edition was held on 17 March 2024), so please check the town's event listings before you go.
  • Tea-picking experience — according to the town, May is Wazuka's new-tea season and the busiest time of year for its growers. In the “hayaba” fields in the west of town, picking starts in late April (see “Hayaba” below). At the Wazuka Town Revitalisation Centre, tea picking is offered for a limited season, May to June: you hand-pick the tender “one bud, two leaves” of the new shoots. It is one of the centre's programmes for groups of, as a rule, 10 or more people, which must be booked at least a week ahead. Its guided tea-field walk for individuals, the “Chagenkyo Private Petit Tour” (from 2 people; book at least 2 days ahead; no tours in July and August), can sometimes be switched to tea picking, but not in every season, so please ask first (list of experiences (Japanese, with English booking pages for individual tours of up to 9 people and for group tours of 10 or more; the group programmes listed in Japanese are, as a rule, guided in Japanese) ↗). Separately, the local-cuisine cooking school Wazukaya (Wazuka House) runs tea picking from about mid-April to the end of October, by reservation only (subject to the leaves' growth and the weather; Kyoto Prefecture Tourism Federation listing (Japanese) ↗).
  • “Hayaba” (early fields) — in spring, warmth spreads across Wazuka from west to east. The Ishitera area in the west of town is known as “hayaba”, where tea picking starts as early as late April (Uji Tea Hometown Council, “Uji Tea Historic Route” brochure).

A few things to note

  • By the definition of the Kyoto Prefectural Tea Council, “Uji tea” is tea grown in Kyoto, Nara, Shiga and Mie prefectures and finished and processed within Kyoto Prefecture by a Kyoto-based business (with priority given to Kyoto-grown leaf). What the statistics can confirm with certainty is that Wazuka is Kyoto Prefecture’s largest tea-growing area — whether it is the largest across the full four-prefecture “Uji tea” region cannot be established from Kyoto Prefecture's statistics alone.
  • Figures such as “roughly 40%” (Kyoto Prefecture's landscape-asset page) and “roughly 45%” (Wazuka Town) likely differ between sources because they measure different things (cultivated area or production; a share of all “Uji tea” or of Kyoto-grown tea), count different tea types and come from different years (in FY2025, for example, Wazuka had 38.5% of Kyoto Prefecture's tea area but 44.8% of its crude-tea output). FY2025 was also a year in which the prefecture's total crude-tea output fell to 79.2% of the previous year's. All shares on this page are Wazuka's share of Kyoto Prefecture's total, with the fiscal year stated.
  • The tea fields are private land. The town asks visitors not to enter the fields without permission, not to come close to take photos of people at work, not to touch the tea leaves or the growers' equipment, not to park on the road (it blocks farm vehicles), and to take their litter home (Wazuka Town, “A request to visitors”).

🍵 Taste what the numbers mean

Taste where those leaves end up. The Extra-Rich Matcha Latte (780 yen, limited quantity) is made with Wazuka-grown matcha and the Iced Green Tea (450 yen) with Wazuka-grown tea leaves, and the farm shop stocks Wazuka teas — sencha, matcha, hojicha and more.

wazukanoSATO Cafe menu Hours & access Extra-Rich Matcha Latte →

Weekdays 10:00–15:00 / Sat, Sun & public holidays 10:00–16:00 · Closed Mon & Tue (Tue & Wed when Monday is a public holiday; Mon & Wed when Tuesday is a public holiday)

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