The History of Japanese Green Tea
The history of Japanese Green Tea starts in the 6th century, with a Monk named ‘Gyoki’, who in 729 A.D sat with one hundred other Bud-d-hist Monks, for a reading of ancient scriptures, organised by the Japanese Emperor ‘Shomu’.
The Emperor served tea brought back from China, where it was still being cast into bricks, then chopped, ground and boiled.
Because this was the first (known) serving of tea in Japan, it would have come at an incredibly high price, but due to the popularity of tea in China and the popularity of Chinese culture in Japan, this was such an exciting event that it was inevitable it would take place.
Gyoki, like the other Monks, became obsessed with tea. With a greater passion than the others, Gyoki devoted the rest of his life to tea, building 49 temples with tea shrubs planted at each one.
65 years later in 794, Kammu, the Japanese Emperor of the time built an imperial palace called ‘The Capital Of Peace’, in what is now Kyoto.
Within its walls was built a tea garden, where tea was grown and harvested for its medicinal benefits.
Green Tea in Japan then took a quick popularity spike in 805 and 806 when two Bud-d-hist Monks, Saicho (better known as Dengyo Daichi) and Kobo Daichi returned from studies in China, both with bags full of tea seeds and knowledge of harvesting and preparation.
Saicho planted seeds at the foot of Mt Hiyei in the Omi province while Kobo spread seed to more temples throughout Japan.
In 815 the Emperor Saga visited the Bonshaku Temple in Karasaki, where Abbot Yeichu served the Emperor with Green Tea, much to his delight.
The Emperor lauded the drink and decreed that it should be cultivated for use by imperials, near the capital in five seperate provinces.
(To be updated)