Special Focus on Shizuoka: Revisiting Makinohara Plateau, the largest area of tea plantations in Japan

Makinohara Plateau is one of Japan’s leading tea producing areas and also its largest in terms of acreage, home to many tea plantations and tea-related facilities. Earlier this year I have written about two tea plantations of different sizes found in this area. In this post I will highlight on the tea museum and a family-run farm.

Before going into that, it’s worth to look back on the history of the Makinohara Plateau as a tea producing area. Despite its significance, its founding was surprisingly new, dating from the early Meiji era.

It’s also a little-known fact that tea production here was pioneered by former samurais who had served in the Edo period. Change began with the restoration of imperial rule in 1867, when the last shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu moved to Sumpu domain (modern-day Aoi ward in Shizuoka City) along with his elite corps of samurai warriors who guarded him.

However, when the daimyo (feudal lords) voluntarily returned their lands to the Emperor in 1869, the elite corps was disbanded, and the samurais were left jobless.

Led by Chuujou Kageaki, these samurais decided to lay down their swords and chose to clear Makinohara Plateau for tea farming. Since the opening of the ports, tea had become a promising export product, and the plateau was deemed suitable to grow tea. However, at that time, the plateau was a devastated area that even local farmers did not care to look at. Water shortage was a major issue.

The decision to become farmers was a big one for the former samurais, and also led to initial hardships as they had no prior experience in agriculture. Through a series of trial and error, coupled with steady persistence, the new farmers were able to develop the vast plains and in 1873, four years after they had started, they had their first tea harvest on Makinohara.

Today, the total size of Makinohara plantations is about 5,000ha.

Makinohara tea, being grown on the plateau and getting a lot of sunshine, is traditionally mostly fukamushi (deep-steamed) tea, which is made by steaming tea leaves longer than regular sencha (steamed for 30 to 40 seconds), usually for one minute or longer. Fukamushi sencha has distinctive features including bright dark-green colour, rich aroma, and mild taste with reduced bitterness and astringency. However, in recent years, many producers are starting to make kamairicha (pan-fired tea) and black tea too, like a family-run farm I have written about previously.

Clearly there’s no one particular type of tea that defines the area, or even Shizuoka in general. To learn all about tea produced in Shizuoka and Japan or even an introduction to the world’s teas, a visit to the Fujinokuni Tea Museum is a must.

Fujinokuni Tea Museum

The museum is located in the middle of the Makinohara plantations, surrounded by tea fields and commanding a superb view of the sacred Mt. Fuji in the distance.

Here you get to see and learn about the history of tea production in Shizuoka and the attraction of tea. Tea-drinking cultures all over the world are also introduced in order to learn about the cultural value of tea. The museum also offers tea experiences like grinding matcha in a traditional stone mill, tea blending, and tasting different types of teas.

After the educational tour, it’s time to shop for teas! There’s a souvenir shop, which is really a great spot to pick up any Shizuoka tea. Also, visitors can enjoy tea food at the restaurant and cafe, such as the green tea soba as pictured.

Having visited the museum in 2018, the only things I kind of regretted not doing were going for the tea ceremony at the tea house on the grounds of the museum and strolling around at the adjacent Japanese garden inspired by the tea master Kobori Enshu, famous for establishing the kirei-sabi style of tea ceremony.

Also, there’s a “tea terrace” there now, that has an awesome view of the vast tea plantations. It’s a must-do on a clear fine day. This experience comes with two teatime options, which is either standard sencha in a pot or kabusecha served in a fancy glass. Looking forward to visit Fujinokuni Tea Museum again!

Ocha no Mukasa-en

Mukasa-en is one of the many family-run farms located on the vast plateau that has its roots there since the Meiji era. During the war, they had to move from their original farm plot after it was decided that the area will be used to build a navy air strip. Today they have about 3ha of tea fields.

Mukasa-en is also a model farm that often conduct researches to improve their production and plantation management, and often hosts training for tea farmers from around Japan. They also holds a group study gathering known as Mukasa Kai for past trainees.

Conveniently located about 20 minutes by car from JR Kanaya Station, it’s currently one of those farms that welcome visitors to take part in tours of their farm and factory.

Also, if it happens to be tea season, visitors might also be able to participate in tea-picking experience.

Well, if that’s the case, it would likely be hand-picking, not riding any of those harvesting machines.

This tea farm experience is offered in the programme known as ‘Shizuoka Tea With’ by Tourism Shizuoka Japan. For 3,000yen, a participant will get to interact with the tea farmer over his green tea along with tea sweets, followed by the farm and factory tour.

There are really many tea places on the Makinohara Plateau to discover and visit. When international flights resume, I know where I shall be heading to!

Supported by Suruga Marketing & Tourism Bureau | Visit Suruga
Photos provided by Local Network Service