The Uji Shichimeien and How Uji Became the Center

Uji did not become a tea region by accident. Political patronage was involved.

Myoe chose the land

After Eisai brought tea from China, Myoe Shonin of Kozanji at Toganoo began cultivating it — one of the origin points of Japanese tea growing.

Myoe then sought terrain better suited to the plant and settled on Uji. Deep river mist, favorable temperature and light conditions.

It started ranked below

In the early hierarchy, Toganoo tea was designated honcha — true tea — while Uji was classed as hicha, everything else.

A tea-tasting game of the period asked participants to identify Toganoo tea against all others. Uji belonged to the "others."

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's patronage

The Muromachi period changed that. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, third shogun, extended particular protection to Uji tea.

Around 1390 he had retainers establish tea gardens there — the Uji Shichimeien, seven famed gardens.

Backed by the shogunate, Uji became recognized as the foremost production area in the country.

Technique accumulated

Once a region establishes itself, expertise concentrates there.

Shaded cultivation — covering fields to block sunlight — developed in Uji. L-theanine converts into astringent catechins under light, so covering preserves umami. Both tencha and gyokuro depend on it.

So did the cultivars

Selected over generations from native stock around Uji, chosen for how they respond to shade.

Samidori, Asahi, Gokou, Ujihikari, Tenmyo, Ujimidori.

Yabukita, Japan's most widely planted cultivar, comes from Shizuoka and excels at sencha — but its yellowish leaf does not darken well under cover, making it poorly suited to tencha.

The same landscape persists

Between April and May, covers make the tea bushes in Uji disappear from view.

On land Myoe selected more than eight centuries ago, the same practice continues. Uji as a tencha region rests on that accumulation.