With a history of more than 800 years, Shengfu Temple is lined with stele stones and ancient trees can be seen everywhere. However, it is indeed an inconspicuous "small tree" that makes people admire. This small tree is unusual, it is a tea tree that produces "magical oriental leaves".
An inconspicuous tea tree in front of the main hall of Sebetsuji Temple
In front of the grand and imposing main hall, it appears weak and windy, and if there is no explanation of the sign next to it, perhaps no one will notice it.
In 1191, the Zen master Eisai returned to his hometown after seeking the Dharma in the Southern Song Dynasty, brought the seeds of the tea tree back to Japan, and began cultivation first in the forecourt of the "Back Zhenshan Reisenji Temple Ishigami-fang" in Matsukuma, Yoshino-dōcho, Kannori-gun, Saga Prefecture, and then in the Sefuku-ji Temple, which he founded by his own hands.
Japanese Tea Zu Eisai Zen Master (Image from the Internet)
This humble tea tree was transplanted from the self-growing tea garden of the birthplace of tea cultivation, "Shishangfang Old Site", in order to highlight the great achievements of Rongxi Zen master and pray for the revitalization of the tea industry.
According to historical records, as early as the Nara period three or four hundred years before Eisai, someone brought tea and tea trees to Japan, and the aristocratic society also formed a trend of tea tasting, but it was not popularized.
Einishi was not the first person to spread tea to Japan, but was revered as the "tea ancestor" of Japan. The reason, of course, is not only that he brought the seeds of tea trees to Japan to cultivate, but more importantly, he combined the Zen precepts to popularize Japanese tea culture, so much so that he specially wrote a "Tea Eating Health Record" to promote tea culture.
View of Shengfu Temple
I lingered in front of this tea tree, refusing to leave for a long time, because it was a microcosm of the thousand-year-old Sino-Japanese exchange. Nowadays, tea has become a necessity of people's daily life, which is both a commodity, a gift, and a culture.
One afternoon a few days ago, at a certain university in Japan, I tasted several kinds of tea with Japanese friends, talked about the various cultures common to China and Japan, and sighed about the many conveniences brought by "the same continent", "the same language" and "the same species" to China and Japan. Between China and Japan, a coat with water, the wind and the moon on the same day, you have me, I have you. The world of great unity, but that's it!