About Sugitoen 日本語

Sugitoen

Notes from Mizumiiro

The history of the valley and of Honyama tea, and what we are trying on the farm. Where a story is tradition rather than record, we say so.

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  31 October 2026

  From Abe-cha to Honyama

  For centuries, tea from these mountains was simply called Abe-cha, after the river. In 1917, a grower from Kiyosawa is credited with giving it a new name.

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  22 October 2026

  Where Shizuoka tea began

  In 1241, a Zen monk came home from China. Tradition holds that he planted tea seeds in Ashikubo — the beginning of Shizuoka tea.