An Imported Practice
The earliest documented evidence of tea in Japan dates to the ninth century. Buddhist monk Eichū brought tea from Tang China and personally prepared sencha for Emperor Saga. The emperor ordered tea plantations cultivated in the Kinki region, but enthusiasm later declined.
A Buddhist Return
In the late twelfth century, monk Eisai returned from China with powdered-tea preparation and tea seeds. Matcha was first used in Buddhist monasteries, where tea also helped monks resist drowsiness during long meditation. Its preparation was influenced by Chinese tea culture and Buddhist ideas.
From Luxury to Competition
Under the Kamakura shogunate, tea and its associated luxuries became status symbols among the warrior class. Tea-tasting contests called tōcha offered prizes to contestants who could identify the highest-quality tea.
During the Muromachi period, tea became part of the cultural worlds associated with Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and Ashikaga Yoshimasa. Its practice developed an independent Japanese aesthetic, especially through wabi-sabi and Zen-influenced ideas.
By the sixteenth century, tea drinking had spread to all levels of society. Sen no Rikyū formalized its procedures and aesthetics, while the schools descended from him continued to spread the tradition among the court, samurai, and townspeople.
Tea’s history is therefore a story of social transformation: a foreign drink became a monastic aid, an elite display, a political instrument, an art form, and a practice available to the wider public.