KYOTO - Tsuen Tea in Kyoto is remarkable in many ways - it's been offering loose leaf and soothing brews since the 12th century.
The tea house regarded as the oldest in Japan surprised me in many ways.
At the storefront of Tsuen Tea, there was no theatrical, tourist-luring signage declaring its incredible history. There was no souvenir stand loudly marketing merchandise for a place that is thought to be the oldest tea shop in the world.
In fact, the unassuming traditional building resembled the many other matcha merchants around Uji, a tea-growing region in Kyoto that’s been prized for its superior brews for centuries.
Although the current shopfront dates back to 1672, the business itself has overlooked the same location since 1160. It sits by the Uji River bridge (Uji Bashi), which has left its imprint on many pages of Japanese literature. It appears in The Tale of Genji, a millennia-old work known as the world's first novel and written by a noblewoman under the pen name Murasaki Shikibu.
The people behind Tsuen Tea are seen as guardians of Uji Bashi – one of the most ancient bridges in the country. And the family's story is worthy of a novel itself.
Tsuen Tea was started by a samurai named Furukawa Unai (who later became known as Taikeian Tsuen Masahisa), who died after defending the bridge in a famous battle. His final moments took place at nearby Byodoin, an iconic temple that also appears on the 10-yen coin. ...continue reading
