Collection: Yukitaka Kawakita

Yukitaka Kawakita (Kusumorido) | 河北幸高 (楠森堂)

Ukiha, Fukuoka, Japan

Yukitaka Kawakita, the heir of the Kawakita family, which has a history spanning 1,200 years, was born and raised in another city. However, at the age of 30, he relocated with his family to Ukiha to protect the family estate and land. The Kawakita family has been the prominent landowner in this region for generations, guiding local agriculture and managing the territory. In modern times, relatives have dispersed to other major cities, and in Ukiha, only the main family’s buildings, land, and fields remain. Among the agricultural lands managed by the Kawakitas was a tea plantation.

In the 1970s, the Japanese government-led efforts streamlined tea farming, and over 98% of tea plantations were standardized to cultivate a single variety called Yabukita. Tea farmers, who used to conduct cultivation and harvesting individually, were incorporated into regional tea production cooperatives. The Kawakita family’s tea field, with a history of over 200 years, happened to be on a break from production during this agricultural reorganization, and the traditional indigenous varieties were preserved.

When Yukitaka moved to Ukiha and considered initiating a business to maintain the land and buildings, he first recognized the value of this tea plantation. Today, only less than 2% of tea farms in Japan cultivate indigenous varieties, and the largest among them was in his family’s land.

He named the plantation Kusumori-dou, which houses over 20,000 tea plants resulting from natural cross breeding over centuries. Yukitaka decided to learn tea cultivation and processing from scratch and, with a small team, revived this traditional farm. After cultivating tea with special coverings, the process called “kabuse-cha”, to produce Gyokuro, and harvesting, the processing takes place in the well-known Yame tea production facility. The blend of various tea plants nurtured by the land and water of Ukiha naturally results in a unique terroir, much like wine, the flavor that can only be produced from this plantation.

Tea was first introduced to Japan from Tang China in the Nara period in the 7th century, and initially, it was a rare medicinal item available only to aristocrats and high-ranking monks. Subsequently, with the spread of Zen Buddhism in the 12th century, tea cultivation itself expanded nationwide, and the culture of tea consumption became more widespread. It is believed that tea cultivation was introduced to Ukiha in a relatively early period, due to its vicinity to Hakata, where ships from China would first arrive.

The tea produced by Kusumori-dou, simply harvested and processed from naturally crossbred tea plants that have multiplied since that time, possesses a depth reminiscent of the taste of tea consumed by Zen monks during meditation in the Kamakura period. Understanding that most of the tea in circulation today is grown through “cloning,” it becomes clear why the taste we usually associate with tea is entirely different from this unique flavor.

Due to the high diversity in indigenous tea plantations, diseases do not spread easily, and almost no insecticides are needed. The soil is vibrant, maintaining a balance with organisms such as insects and microbes, and pollination occurs naturally through bees and other creatures. Although this kind of agriculture might have been normal in the days before industrialization, the Kusumoridou plantation is one of the rare practices nationwide in today’s Japan.

Jutsu handles various process types of zairaicha (indeginous tea) from Kusumori-dou plantation, which has been enjoying an increase in orders from tea specialty shops around the world in recent years.