Myoe was a Kegon-school monk of the early Kamakura period who received tea seeds from Eisai and grew them at Kozan-ji in Toganoo, establishing the first serious tea cultivation in Japan.
Life
Born in Kii Province (modern Wakayama), he studied Kegon doctrine and esoteric Buddhism at Jingo-ji and Todai-ji. Receiving seeds from Eisai, he planted them around Kozan-ji at Toganoo and worked out methods of cultivation. Toganoo tea came to be called honcha, "true tea", and was the ancestor of Uji tea.
Why he matters
The distinction between honcha (Toganoo tea) and hicha (everything else), a term that runs through early tea history, originates with Myoe's plantation. Any account of Japanese tea before Uji has to begin here.
About this article
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Term info
- Life dates
- 1173–1232
- Category
- Term
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