Introduction:
The sixth-generation owner of Horii Shichimeien, Chotaro Horii inherits a family legacy stretching back to the mid-Meiji period as well as a Japanese tea culture of nearly 800 years. Shichimeien means “seven great tea fields,” referring to original seven tea fields established by the Ashikaga Shogunate in the Muromachi period (1338-1573). Today, one of the seven gardens remains, with a few of the original, 600-year-old tea trees still producing. The dried green tea leaves, tencha, are cultivated with the traditional “Shizen-Shitate” method, where they allow the tea branches to grow freely and only hand-pick spring shoots once a year. To concentrate the umami flavor before harvest, they incorporate both modern tools and another traditional technique, honzu cultivation, covering the plants a total of three times: the first two using synthetic black sheets, and the third using woven sheets of thin reeds and rice straw. The furnace then used to dry the tencha is of a type invented by the third-generation owner of Horii Shichimeien, the “Horii style tencha dryer:” developed in the Taisho era, a time of major transition in tea production, this machine spread throughout Uji and the rest of Japan. The tencha may then be ground into matcha powder in a stone mill. Though more time-consuming than modern industrial methods, these techniques have been refined over 600 years, reflecting an appreciation not only for the pleasant, flavorful end product, but also for the integrity and tradition of the process.
The tea garden grows along the Uji River, whose waters provide the fertile soil and humid climate critical to Uji’s flourishing tea culture. The region has been a nexus of Japanese tea production since Myoan Eisai first brought tea seeds to Japan, the quality of its tea leaves favored by the likes of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Later, as the tea ceremony popularized tea drinking among the masses, the fame of Uji tea spread further. The city facilitated the diversification of green tea, and still produces the three types: matcha, sencha, and gyokuro. Matcha is produced under the shade-grown cultivation method, such as honzu cultivation. Sencha, developed in the eighteenth century, is simply kept in the sun, making it a simpler and more accessible tea. Gyokuro, the most recent innovation in green teas, is, like matcha, grown in the shade. In all variants, Japanese green tea is, unlike black and oolong tea, unfermented, allowing its drinker to taste the fresh flavors of spring.
Tea has always been deeply connected with Zen Buddhist tradition, being used by Eisai himself to aid in meditation and health. In fact, according to legend, when the founder of Zen, Bodhidharma, struggled to stay awake while meditating, he ripped his eyelids off and tea plants grew from where they fell to the ground. Everything in tea and tea ceremonies, from the careful preparation of cups and utensils to the etiquette in drinking the tea, embodies the Zen ideal of mindfulness. Kyoto aristocrats soon took up on the practice from the priests, and sourced much of their high quality tea from nearby Uji.
Today, as Uji tea continues to attract national, even global accolades, tea-farming families like the Horii family dedicate themselves to upholding the city’s cultural heritage. They have the duty of not only looking back, preserving ancient roots and knowledge, but also of looking forward, incorporating new tea production technologies and sharing with others the “genuine” flavors of Uji tea, holding true to Uji’s history of tea capital and innovation. It is an active relationship with place, with nature and life, honored for generations.
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Chotaro Horii attended the prestigious Doshisha University in Kyoto. He is also involved in the community, being at one point (possibly still?) the Kyoto prefecture tea industry cooperative chairman.
Questions:
-To what extent has Horii Shichimeien incorporated modern techniques and technologies into its tea farming process? Any examples of recent innovations?
-How do you make the decision between what traditions to keep to and what to update? I know that some tea shops stick purely to honzu cultivation, not using synthetic fibers for shade cultivation at all–how do you feel Horri Shichimeien compares, in terms of conservatism, to other Uji tea farming families?
-Uji tea and tea culture have become subjects of global acclaim, and I understand that Kyoto prefecture is working to register Uji as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Does all this attention affect the way you see your family’s legacy? How do you feel about the work of global organizations like UNESCO to recognize and catalog cultural heritage? Is it important for Uji?
-How did you make the decision to continue as the next head of Horii Shichimeien? Was it something that you always wanted to do? Did you ever imagine doing anything else?
-What do you feel is the future of tea farming in Uji, and of Horii Shichimeien?
-What is your favorite part of your work?
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Reflections:
It was an amazing experience getting to see the tea gardens. Horii made it a point to show that the plants are all different sizes/ unregulated. This is because they only pick new beds by hand.
It was fascinating to learn about the technique of covering the tea leaves. The plants receive little sunlight in March. Shutting out the sun allows amino acids under the earth to be preserved on the tea leaf. If they didn’t cover the plants, the tea would have a much bitter taste. The tea also becomes much softer in the process — another important factor as soft leaves make the grinding process easier for matcha. The traditional method for covering the plants was via the Honzu method which involved rice straws but this has been modernized to use chemical fibers instead. In order to hold onto this past tradition the garden still uses a straw weed carpet, or Kamo, as they value the fragrance of the straw for their teas. I was fascinated by this juxtaposition of tradition and modernization. It seems like a line many craftsmen are weary of crossing as it seems like a slippery slope. Although modernizing may result in more efficiency and profits, these are two virtues that are not valued or emphasized. The tradition of the past and their predecessors is so highly revered, that veering from the past often means veering from nature. It was touching to hear how Horii describes that drinking tea is for the heart, not thirst. This again shows the reverence for nature, a continuity among all the masters and artists. He was one of the few masters that acknowledged the effects of climate change. This relates back to the idea that nature’s power has more control over humans.
We were lucky enough to try Sencha, many of us for the first time. This tea is a bit more involved to prepare compared to matcha but just as beautiful to taste. The color of Uji Sencha is striking – it’s a translucent green. It had quite a refreshing flavor and tasted grassy and green.
