Horii Shichimeien Matcha

Horii Shichimeien has been engaged, from generation to generation, in the production and sales of Uji Tea in the area in front of Agata-jinja Shrine of Uji, which is famous for its “strange festival in the dark.” The year 1879 (Meiji 12) seems to have marked the starting point of the company’s business, as the name of the second-generation owner appeared publicly at the time in a recognized report on tea production (“Kyoshinkai Tea Production Report”).

Horii Chōjirō, the third-generation owner, wishing to further promote Uji Tea, undertook the task of the mechanization of “tencha” production ("tencha" is the name used for matcha tea leaves before they've been ground into a fine powder). The production of tea in general was undergoing a transition to mechanization at that time. In 1924 (Taisho 13), he finally worked out a method and called it “Horii’s Tencha Production Machine”. This invention made the production of homogenous-quality and high-quality teas possible and contributed to an increase in the overall quality of Uji Tea, thus providing the prosperous foundation of "Uji Tea" as the regional specialty. Crucially, because Chōjirō did not keep this method to himself but instead shared it freely to others within the local area, all of the tencha production machines used in Japan today are essentially improved versions of his machine.

Horii Shichimeien is now a well-established Uji Tea company and is among the few stores that own their own tea garden. Its tea garden was one of the seven famous gardens called Uji Shichimeien designated by Ashikaga Shogunate in the Muromachi Period. Today, the store’s garden, named “Okunoyama”, is located on a small hill near Uji Byōdōin Temple as the only remaining garden of the seven. Over the last 600 years, the store has continued to grow and process teas (such as the well-known high quality tencha, “Narino”), engaging in the whole process of tea manufacturing from picking and selecting to drying and grinding of tea leaves using grinding stones. Currently, the company also sells at retail and provides genuine Uji Tea directly to their customers.