TEA HERITAGE
THE TEA HERITAGE OF WARASHINA
The Land, the History, and the Prelude to Our Story
Around the 7th Century
The Establishment of Suruga Province
As Japan developed its first centralized state under the ancient ritsuryō system, Suruga Province was established in what is now central and eastern Shizuoka Prefecture.
The valleys of the Abe and Warashina Rivers formed part of this historic province, situated along the ancient Tōkaidō route connecting the imperial capital in western Japan with the eastern regions.
1202
Shōichi Kokushi Enni Is Born in Tochizawa
Enni, later honored with the title Shōichi Kokushi, was born in Tochizawa, a mountain village in the Warashina Valley, close to the place where GINZA FUKA founder Fuya Ohashi was born and raised.
Enni would become one of the most important Zen monks of medieval Japan and a key figure in the history traditionally associated with the origins of tea cultivation in Shizuoka.
1235–1241
Enni Travels to Song China
Enni traveled to Song-dynasty China, one of the great centers of Buddhist learning and culture in East Asia, where he studied Zen.
He returned to Japan in 1241, bringing with him knowledge and traditions acquired during his years in China.
Mid-13th Century
The Traditional Origins of Tea Cultivation in Shizuoka
According to local tradition, Enni brought tea seeds back from China and planted them in Ashikubo.
Today, Honyama Tea refers to tea produced in the mountainous valleys of the Abe River and its tributary, the Warashina River.
These neighboring valleys together form one of Shizuoka’s historic mountain tea regions: Warashina as the birthplace of Enni, and the wider Honyama region as the landscape in which the story of Shizuoka tea would continue to develop.
Mid-14th Century
The Imagawa Clan Begins Its Rule of Suruga
In 1338, Imagawa Norikuni was appointed military governor of Suruga Province.
The Imagawa clan, a distinguished warrior family related to the Ashikaga shogunal house, would rule Suruga for approximately 230 years.
During this long period, Sunpu gradually developed from a regional political center into an important city of culture and exchange.
15th–16th Centuries
The Cultural Development of Sunpu
Under the Imagawa clan, Sunpu — the historic name of central Shizuoka — grew into one of the important cultural centers of eastern Japan.
Aristocrats, Zen monks, poets and other cultural figures traveled from Kyoto to Sunpu, bringing with them traditions of Zen Buddhism, linked-verse poetry, waka poetry, music and tea.
The refined culture of Kyoto encountered the landscapes and traditions of eastern Japan in Sunpu.
Mid-16th Century
The Age of Imagawa Yoshimoto
Under Imagawa Yoshimoto, one of the most influential lords of Japan’s Sengoku period, Sunpu reached a cultural high point.
Zen temples served as centers of learning, while aristocrats and cultural figures from Kyoto took part in poetry, tea gatherings and other forms of artistic exchange.
The young Tokugawa Ieyasu, who would later unify Japan and establish the Tokugawa shogunate, spent much of his childhood and youth in this cultured environment of Sunpu.
16th Century
The Mountain Valleys Behind Sunpu
Beyond the city of Sunpu stretched the mountain valleys of the Abe and Warashina Rivers — the landscape that would later become known as the home of Honyama Tea.
These communities were connected to the city through rivers, roads and the movement of agricultural products.
The history of tea in Shizuoka therefore developed through a continuing relationship between the mountain villages where tea was grown and the city where culture, trade and refinement gathered.
Late 16th Century
Tokugawa Ieyasu and Suruga
Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had spent much of his youth in Sunpu, later returned to Suruga as its ruler.
Sunpu became one of the principal centers of his expanding domain, strengthening the relationship between the city and the surrounding mountain regions.
Ieyasu would eventually bring Japan under unified rule and establish the Tokugawa shogunate.
1607
Tokugawa Ieyasu Returns to Sunpu
After transferring the title of shogun to his son Tokugawa Hidetada, Ieyasu returned to Sunpu in 1607.
He greatly expanded Sunpu Castle and established his court there as the center of his Ōgosho government, continuing to exercise enormous political influence over Japan.
The Tokugawa shogunate ushered in the Edo period — more than 250 years of relative peace, urban growth, craftsmanship and cultural development in Japan.
For a time, Sunpu stood alongside Edo as one of the places from which the country was governed.
Early 17th Century
Tokugawa Ieyasu and Honyama Tea
Tokugawa Ieyasu is traditionally said to have greatly appreciated tea grown in the Honyama region and to have selected it for official use.
A tradition also survives concerning the Ochatsubo Yashiki, a tea-storage facility in the mountains near Dainichi Pass in Ikawa, where tea for Ieyasu was said to have been carefully preserved.
In Tokugawa Ieyasu, Honyama Tea found an admirer in the very man who had brought Japan under unified rule.
The tea of these mountain valleys had become connected to the highest level of political and cultural life in Japan.
Early Edo Period
The Establishment of Chamachi — the Tea District
Tea merchants gathered in the castle town of Sunpu, leading to the development of an area known as Chamachi, literally “Tea Town.”
Tea grown in the mountainous communities of the Abe and Warashina River valleys was brought into Sunpu for trade, processing and distribution.
A lasting relationship developed between the mountain tea-growing villages and the merchants of the city — a structure that would shape the history of Shizuoka tea for centuries.
Late 18th Century
The Revival of Tea Production in the Honyama Region
Tea merchants and producers worked to improve quality and revitalize tea cultivation in the mountain districts of the Abe and Warashina River valleys.
In 1788, a monument associated with Yamagataya Shōhachi, a tea merchant remembered for his contribution to the development of local tea production, was erected in Ashikubo.
The tea of the Honyama mountains was increasingly valued not simply as a local product, but for its quality and distinctive origin.
Early 19th Century
The Spread of Steamed Sencha Production
Tea-processing techniques derived from Uji, near Kyoto — historically one of Japan’s most prestigious tea regions — spread through Shizuoka.
Records from the 1830s describe tea masters from Uji being invited to Shizuoka to teach advanced manufacturing techniques.
These developments helped establish the foundations of the refined steamed green teas for which Shizuoka would later become known.
1859
The Opening of Yokohama and the Rise of Japanese Tea Exports
Following the opening of Yokohama to international trade in 1859, Japanese tea became one of the country’s major export products, alongside raw silk.
Tea cultivation expanded rapidly throughout Shizuoka, and increasing quantities of Shizuoka tea began to cross the Pacific and reach international markets.
Tea that had long been part of life in the mountain valleys was becoming a product known far beyond Japan.
Meiji–Taishō Era
The Name “Honyama Tea” Emerges
Tea from the Abe and Warashina River valleys had previously been known by names such as Abe Tea.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Tsukiji Kōtarō, a tea farmer from Kiyosawa in the upper Warashina Valley, is credited with giving the tea of this historic mountain region the name Honyama Tea.
The name distinguished the long-established mountain tea-growing area from newer tea-producing districts that were rapidly developing elsewhere in Shizuoka.
A centuries-old tea landscape had acquired the name by which it is still known today.
Meiji Era
Chamachi and Anzai Become the Center of the Tea Trade
Large quantities of aracha — unfinished green tea — from across Shizuoka began to arrive in the Chamachi and Anzai districts.
Tea merchants, refining factories and exporters concentrated in the area, transforming Shizuoka into a major center for tea trading, blending, finishing and distribution.
Shizuoka was no longer only a place where tea was grown. It had become a city where tea was selected, refined, blended and given commercial value.
1889
The Opening of the Tōkaidō Railway
The Tōkaidō railway line opened, linking Shizuoka more efficiently with Yokohama, Tokyo and other major markets.
Large quantities of tea could now be transported farther and faster than before.
The development of modern transportation began to change the scale of the Shizuoka tea trade.
1899
Shimizu Port Opens to International Trade
Shimizu Port was officially designated for foreign trade.
Located close to Japan’s largest tea-producing region, the port soon developed into an important gateway for exporting Shizuoka tea to the world.
The mountains, the city and the sea were becoming increasingly connected through tea.
1906
Direct Tea Exports from Shimizu Port
Ocean-going vessels began calling directly at Shimizu Port, allowing Shizuoka tea to be exported overseas without first passing through ports such as Yokohama.
A direct route from the tea-producing region to international markets had begun to take shape.
1908
A Railway Built to Carry Tea
A light railway was opened between Shizuoka and Shimizu, supported in large part by the need to transport tea from the Chamachi trading district to Shimizu Port.
This railway would eventually develop into today’s Shizuoka Railway.
Tea was no longer shaping only agriculture and commerce; it was influencing the infrastructure and development of the city itself.
Early 20th Century
Shimizu Becomes a Major Port for Japanese Tea
Tea exports through Shimizu Port increased rapidly, making the port one of Japan’s most important centers for overseas tea trade.
Tea from Honyama and other regions of Shizuoka traveled through the city’s tea markets, railway network and port before continuing across the world.
Shizuoka had developed into one of the principal centers of the modern Japanese tea industry.
1946–2025
From Ohashi Tea Farm to GINZA FUKA
In 1946, shortly after the end of the Second World War, Ohashi Tea Farm was established in Warashina, within the historic Honyama tea-growing region.
This was the very place where GINZA FUKA founder Fuya Ohashi was born and raised, growing up among the tea fields and witnessing traditional tea-making firsthand.
The family’s tea-making tradition continued through his grandfather. After his grandfather passed away, tea production came to an end for a time.
In 2025, Fuya Ohashi, as the direct successor to Ohashi Tea Farm, revived the family tea business in a new form as GINZA FUKA — carrying the heritage of Warashina and Shizuoka tea forward, and presenting it to the world.