Illustrations of Uji Tea Production
This album captures in remarkable detail every stage of the production process of the famous green tea grown in Uji, near Kyoto. The imagery charts the plant’s growth, beginning in the early spring, as well as the subsequent harvesting, culling, and drying of its leaves. In the second half of the sixteenth century, a new method of tea cultivation was developed in Uji that helped to create the bright green, powdered matcha used in the wabi-cha tea culture associated with Sen no Rikyū (1522–1591). In the eighteenth century, the high-quality green tea enjoyed as sencha—steamed and rolled after picking—was also successfully grown in Uji. Around that time, sencha gatherings became frequent among the literati of Kyoto.
Artwork Details
- 斎藤玄就筆 忍道宗延序 「宇治製茶之図」
- Title: Illustrations of Uji Tea Production
- Artist: Painting by Saitō Motonari (Japanese, active ca. 1800)
- Artist: Preface by Nindō Sōen (Japanese, active ca. 1800)
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: 1803
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Handscroll of thirty-two sheets reformatted as a folding album (orihon)
- Dimensions: Orihon; image: 12 5/8 in. × 54 ft. 3/4 in. (32.1 × 1647.8 cm)
Overall: 12 5/8 in. × 57 ft. 5 1/4 in. (32.1 × 1750.7 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 2023
- Object Number: 2023.237
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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