Tea Plantations in Shiga Prefecture

Green tea and rice in the Japanese countryside

By Cathy Cawood

Community writer

Tea planted in rows along the foot of a cedar clad slope

These new shoots make really delicious tea!

Protecting the tea by shading it from the sun produces a milder, sweeter flavor

Woman in a wide hat a gloves picking tea

This manhole cover belongs to Shuumai, one of the areas that is part of Koka

Neat rows of tea bushes around a group of houses

Small temple with steeply pitched roof and graveyard behind

Another steep snow-proof roof nestled against a forested hill and overlooking long fields

When I was cycling to Shigaraki, I came upon an area with many tea plantations. In May the tea plants had fresh young growth on the tips. In my opinion it makes the best green tea! I think picking the tips must be boring, painstaking work though. Sometimes the beautiful mounded rows of tea plants were growing right next to newly flooded rice fields. It was a truly Japanese countryside scene - rice and green tea!

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By Cathy Cawood

Community writer

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Olga 10 years ago

Looks fantastic! I want to go there!!

Bonson Lam 10 years ago

May is a wonderful time to be cycling in Kyoto and Shiga. It is the prime of Spring, and the best tea leaves are ripe for picking, or tasting for that matter! https://en.japantravel.com/kyoto/kyoto-tea-tasting/208

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