By jodi
In Japan tea is a religion, philosophy, elixir and an art form.
You can distinguished a Japanese green tea from any other tea by the suffix cha. Cha is tea in Japanese and most Japanese teas end with cha; matcha, genmaicha, hoijicha, bancha and so on (except the most supreme of all Japanese green tea, Gyokuro means precious dew and does not need to be identified as a mere tea)
The history of tea in Japan started in the 8th century when Emperor Shomu heard of this medicinal plant used by the Chinese Buddhist monks for mental alertness and the Emperor invited 100 Chinese Buddhist monks to his palace to try tea. Although tea was China’s most precious export, as an offering the monks brought seeds of the tea plant and not too long after tea was planted and cultivated successfully in Japan.
Modern day, traditional ways of producing Japanese tea was started in the 9th century with steaming the tea leaves and 13th century brought the introduction of roasting tea leaves and twigs – unique from the Chinese method of withering, pan firing and rolling tea leaves.
Throughout the proceeding centuries, the Chinese Buddhist are responsible not only for bringing tea to Japan but also the art of tea ceremonies, calligraphy, painting and philosophy. Chashitsu or tea houses simply furnished evoking Buddhist minimalist abodes of thatched roofs and sparse furnishings leaving amble room for ideology and expressionism over the tea leaves. Through the Buddhist teachings, tea masters learned tea is not intended for prosperity but it is ephemeral and for everyone.
12th century brought us our first Japanese tea book, still in print today, Kissa Yojoki (How to Stay Healthy by Drinking Tea). The opening sentence, “Tea is the ultimate mental and medical remedy and has the ability to make one’s life more full and complete” is clearly relevant more than eight centuries later.
Modern day Japanese tea is still rich in tradition and ritual. Sencha, Japanese most popular tea was developed in the 18th century. The infamous, ritualistic Japanese tea ceremony or ocha is highly influenced by Zen Buddhism and can still be found in modern Japan.
