Hirakawa no Mukashi

A Kumamoto organic matcha with a clear identity

Many overseas buyers know Japanese matcha mainly through famous origins such as Uji, Kyoto, Yame or Kagoshima. Kumamoto is less widely known internationally as a matcha origin, even though it has a long tea-growing tradition and a strong culture of tea quality evaluation.

Hirakawa no Mukashi is designed to make that origin more specific: Kumamoto-grown organic tencha, the named Seimei cultivar, an award-backed producer, and an 1191 regional tea record that gives the product a genuine sense of place.

Zen, Eisai and a tea record from 1191

For many people outside Japan, Japanese tea is closely associated with Zen. One of the central figures in that story is Eisai (1141–1215), traditionally regarded as the founder of the Rinzai school of Zen in Japan. Saga Prefecture's official tea-culture account describes the tradition that Eisai sowed tea seeds brought from Song China in 1191, an episode regarded there as the beginning of tea cultivation in Japan.

Kumamoto preserves another striking record from that same year. A document dated May 3, 1191 (Kenkyu 2), preserved among the Hirakawa family documents, lists the products of villages in the Kuma region. For Hatsugami village, the document includes the words “tea, 50 kin” (茶五十斤). This surviving record shows that tea was already a recorded local product in this part of Kyushu at the end of the 12th century.

Why this matters

We do not claim that Eisai personally brought tea to this village, or that Hirakawa no Mukashi is made from an 800-year-old tea lineage. The historical point is more interesting: while 1191 is famous in the story of Eisai and the spread of tea cultivation in Japan, a surviving document from the Kuma region records 50 kin of tea in the very same year.

That makes the Kuma area of Kumamoto part of the conversation about Japan's oldest documented tea-producing regions. For us, this is a more meaningful foundation for a Kumamoto matcha story than simply calling the region “new” or “alternative.”

Why we named it “Hirakawa no Mukashi”

Made from organic Seimei tencha

Why tencha matters

Matcha is made by finely milling tencha: shaded tea leaves that are steamed and dried without the rolling process used for sencha or tamaryokucha. This is what distinguishes true matcha from ordinary green tea powder.

For Hirakawa no Mukashi, the raw material is organic tencha using the Seimei cultivar. The cultivar and raw-material identity are important information for specialty retailers, tea professionals and buyers evaluating Japanese matcha by more than color alone.

Why we use the Seimei cultivar

Seimei is a Japanese green tea cultivar developed by Japan's National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO). NARO reports that Seimei performs well under covered cultivation and is suited to high-quality matcha and powdered tea, with favorable processed-tea color and umami characteristics.

Those traits are relevant to matcha because shading, leaf quality, cultivar, tencha processing and milling all influence the final color, aroma, umami, bitterness and texture.

Raw material from one of Kumamoto's leading tea producers

The organic tencha used for Hirakawa no Mukashi comes from one of the most highly regarded tea producers in Kumamoto Prefecture. We do not emphasize only a name; what matters to overseas buyers is the level of production, recognition and reliability behind the leaf.

For a buyer evaluating Hirakawa no Mukashi, this means the matcha is backed not only by origin and cultivar, but also by a raw-material source with a proven record in quality evaluation, organic production, export readiness and practical farm management.

Product profile

Recommended uses

Why Kumamoto matcha?

Kumamoto is one of Japan's established tea-producing prefectures, but its matcha is still relatively unfamiliar overseas. The 1191 Hirakawa family record gives the Kuma region an unusually deep documentary connection to tea, while today's growers, cultivars and processing technology create a modern matcha industry on top of that history.

Sanrokuen therefore does not present Kumamoto merely as a lower-profile alternative to famous origins. We present it as a tea region with both old documentary roots and modern production capability, and invite buyers to evaluate the actual matcha on color, aroma, taste, cultivar, analysis and supply conditions.

Read the full Kumamoto Matcha story →

Quality, organic requirements and documentation

For business and export inquiries, the useful question is not only whether a product is “premium,” but whether the current lot meets the buyer's practical requirements. Sanrokuen can discuss current product specifications, packaging, sample availability and available testing or certification documents.

Requirements for organic labeling and food import differ by destination. Overseas buyers should confirm importer-side rules before ordering. Where specific certificates, laboratory tests or export documents are required, please tell us the destination country and required documents at the inquiry stage.