When it comes to tea, Shizuoka and Uji come to mind as popular producing areas, but in fact, there is also a famous tea producing area in Nara Prefecture that is known only to those in the know.
From Nara city Tsukigase, located in the mountainous Yamato Plateau , about an hour's drive northeast , is a famous Yamato tea producing area.
The tea plant has a long dormant period (winter) from autumn to spring, and the harvest season for new tea (first tea) is one of the latest in the world. The short hours of sunlight and the large temperature difference between morning and evening also contribute to the tea plants' slow, small, and strong growth. In Tsukigase, Fumiaki Iwata of Tsukigase Healthy Tea Farm is working to make the most of the characteristics of the land to produce tea. He is the 17th generation of farmers and the 5th generation tea farmer, whose family has been in business since the Meiji era.
A lot has happened in the 11 years since I started organic farming
Tsukigase Healthy Tea Farm has been producing tea using organic farming methods since 1984. In 2011, we started working on natural farming as well.
When he first started organic farming, Iwata-san said he was making organic tea with the belief that "it's important not to use any pesticides, chemical fertilizers, herbicides, etc." This was because he felt that using chemically synthesized products was bad for the environment and the human body.
After a few years had passed, some tea plantations began to experience a phenomenon in which the leaves began to fall off the branches and the tea plants began to grow poorly.
Iwata believes that up until now tea plants had grown with the help of fertilizer, but by switching to natural cultivation, the tea plants have become more sensitive to the environment they are growing in. Tea plants, as plants, naturally have the power to grow by their own vitality. What kind of approach can we take to allow the tea plants to continue to grow in a way that is innate to them? We made repeated adjustments and observations while observing the characteristics of the tea plantations scattered among the mountains.
In the past, sawtooth oak trees were cut down to be used for firewood and charcoal, but in recent years, they have not been cut down due to their value and have grown into large trees, which have reduced sunlight and ventilation, and the construction of work roads within the tea plantations has partially halted the movement of groundwater, making it difficult for the roots to breathe. Even to things that may seem like "small things," each and every tea plant grows in response to its own circumstances.
It wasn't simply that chemical fertilizers were bad for health, but rather that growing tea trees while taking advantage of the natural characteristics of the land would lead to the delicious taste of tea that is unique to Tsukigase.So, even in the tea fields where organic farming was practiced, they switched to cultivation methods that made use of the natural power of nature, returning plants grown nearby to the tea fields.
Natural cultivation is not just about leaving it to nature
In recent years, there have been frequent occurrences of weather that is not as normal as usual, such as heavy rains and extreme heat. Iwata believes that natural farming can help us overcome such conditions, or even make the most of them.
For example, tea leaves harvested from tea plants that have been unable to grow properly due to a prolonged drought may have a Muscat-like scent. This is because the tea plant is under stress and produces a defense reaction that produces a characteristic scent. Tea plants grow by adapting to their environment, and will continue to adapt to changes in the weather without wavering too much.
"Natural cultivation is not a method of cultivating tea by controlling the growth of the tea plants in order to produce the tea you want, but rather a method of accepting what actually happens and making the most of it."
Rather than trying to make tea that "must be a certain way," we approach tea making with the awareness of delivering the deliciousness of tea grown in the climate of that year. On the other hand, we also believe that leaving everything to nature and not managing it is not natural farming. This is because if the tea mountain is left unattended, it will gradually return to forest. This is an important difference between "wild" and "natural farming". Only by continuing to maintain the minimum necessary and conscious management can the natural rhythm of the tea mountain continue. "Growing tea is about growing the soil." Perhaps this is the way tea is grown, allowing one to feel the local climate, or terroir.
Regarding each cultivation standard
Tsukigase Healthy Tea Garden offers three series of tea: "Naturally Grown Tea," "Organically Grown Tea," and "Continuous Tea Mountain." All three series share the same respect for the rhythm of nature, but the cultivation standards and roles of each are slightly different (currently, BEKKAN carries two types of tea: "Naturally Grown Tea" and "Continuous Tea Mountain").
● "Natural cultivation"
The tea fields scattered across Tsukigase are managed with the intention of allowing the tea plants to grow with their own vitality and to better express the characteristics of the terroir. In natural cultivation, no fertilizer is added.
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Input materials |
・Grown without fertilizer |
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Tea Farm Environment |
Tea Mountain |
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Tea plantation management |
・The tea plants are allowed to grow in accordance with the natural rhythm of Tsukigase, Nara. ・A distinction is made between varietal tea and native tea. |
● Organic farming
While cultivating tea with the awareness that it should grow in line with the natural rhythm of Tsukigase, they also take advantage of well-planned tea fields to ensure stable production.
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Input materials |
Depending on the vegetation and soil quality of the area, organic fertilizer derived from plants (non-genetically modified rapeseed meal) may be used. |
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Tea Farm Environment |
It is a tea farm (tea mountain, tea field) that has been practicing organic cultivation for many years. |
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Tea plantation management |
Cultivating tea with the awareness that the tea plants grow in accordance with the natural rhythm of Tsukigase, Nara |
● "Continuing Tea Mountain"
In recent years, the area has seen the deterioration of traditional "tea mountains," which are sloping lands that are difficult to cultivate. "Tea mountains" are not just places for producing tea, but places where nature and humans have coexisted since ancient times. Since around 2010, we have been working to restore and continue cultivating abandoned tea fields as much as we can.
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Input materials |
- Grown without fertilizer - If necessary, use natural vegetation (Japanese silver grass, fallen leaves, etc.) that grows in the area. |
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Tea Farm Environment |
A certain period of time has passed since the tea plantations were regenerated and the tea trees have begun to grow in accordance with the natural rhythm. |
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Tea plantation management |
The cultivation is done with the intention of switching over to natural farming of tea. |
It's so delicious that you'll want to drink it over and over again, and it blends in with your body like drinking delicious water. Tsukigase Healthy Tea Garden's tea has been made over many years of research to make sure that the tea is "like tea."
Enjoy the unique taste of tea grown in Tsukigase that is unique to that year.
