270px, Tea plantations in Wazuka Wazuka town

is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

located in Sōraku District,

Kyoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Kyoto Prefecture has a population of 2,561,358 () and has a geographic area of . Kyoto Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the northeast, Shiga Prefecture ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. , the town has an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 3,571. and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of 54 persons per km². The total area is 64.93 km².

Geography

Wazuka is located in the hills of far southeastern of Kyoto Prefecture.

Neighboring municipalities

;

Kizugawa 270px, Joruri-ji is a city located in southern Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 79,866 in 33183 households and a population density of 940 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Kizugawa C ...

* Sōraku District ( Kasagi・ Minamiyamashiro) * Tsuzuki District ( Ide・ Ujitawara) ;

Shiga Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,398,972 as of 1 February 2025 and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to th ...

Kōka was a after ''Tenpō'' and before '' Kaei.'' This period spanned the years from December 1844 through February 1848. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * December 2, 1844 (): The new era name of ''Kōka'', meaning "Becoming Wid ...

Climate

Wazuka has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Wazuka is 13.7 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1439 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.7 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2,1 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Wazuka has declined in recent decades.

History

The area of Wazuka was part of ancient

Yamashiro Province was a province of Japan, located in Kinai. It overlaps the southern part of modern Kyoto Prefecture on Honshū. Aliases include , the rare , and . It is classified as an upper province in the '' Engishiki''. Yamashiro Province included Kyoto it ...

. During the

Edo Period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, the area was part of the holdings of the

Imperial family A royal family is the immediate family of monarch, monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or emperor, empress, and the term papal family describes the family of ...

. The villages of Nishiwazuka, Nakawazuka and Higashiwazuka were merged to form the town of Wazuka on December 15, 1954.

Government

Wazuka has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

town council of ten members. Wazuka, collectively with the other municipalities of Sōraku District and the city of Kizugawa, contributes two members to the Kyoto Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the Kyoto 6th district of the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

Economy

Wazuka is a rural area, with an economy based on agriculture, with the area noted for its production of

green tea Green tea is a type of tea made from the leaves and buds of the '' Camellia sinensis'' that have not undergone the withering and oxidation process that creates oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China in the late 1st millenn ...

.Wazuka is home to roughly 300 tea growing families. The area was selected in the Kamakura period (1192–1333) for tea production and has enjoyed an 800-year history as one of the main production areas of Uji tea. Today Uji tea comprises only about 4% of the tea produced in Japan, and Wazuka tea only half of that. Also a considerable crop of rice is produced among other agricultural products. The local community is in cooperation with NICE, a major volunteer program, and together hold a large annual work camp at the end of August lasting 2 weeks. The program is open to about 12 foreigners per year and an equal number of Japanese work campers. In addition, Wazuka is home to Obubu Tea Farm, one of the biggest tea producers in the country. Obubu Tea farm offers interesting activities such as tea harvesting events, tea tours for tourists and professionals, visits to the tea fields and production facilities,

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

tasting and production, in addition to

mochi A mochi ( ; Japanese ) is a Japanese rice cake made of , a short-grain Japonica rice, japonica glutinous rice, and sometimes other ingredients such as water, sugar, and cornstarch. The steamed rice is pounded into paste and molded into the ...

making and

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

classes and events.

Wazuka tea history

Kaijūsen-ji Kaijūsen-ji is a Buddhist temple in Kizugawa, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. Its five-storied pagoda is a National Treasure of Japan Some of the National Treasures of Japan A is " Tangible Cultural Properties designated by law in modern Ja ...

temple is often credited with bringing tea to Wazuka village. Shonin Jishin, a Zen Buddhist monk of the temple, was the first person to begin cultivation of tea there. He began cultivation on Mt. Jubu, where the practice began to spread to the village of Wazuka below. The original function of tea that was grown in Wazuka was grown for medicinal use for Zen Buddhist monks. The monks in the area used it for training at their temples. The type of tea grown in Wazuka, Uji tea, was first introduced on to the world stage when Commodore Perry, head of the United States East Indian Squadron, influenced Japan to open up trade in the Edo Bay in 1853. Later, the village of Wazuka itself, along with former villages Kamo-Mura and Koma-Mura, began to reach acclaim within Japan when it won a prize in a national tea exposition in

Ueno Park is a spacious public park in the Ueno, Tokyo, Ueno district of Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. The park was established in 1873 on lands formerly belonging to the Buddhist temples in Japan, temple of Kan'ei-ji. Amongst the country's first public parks, i ...

, Tokyo in 1890.2015. ''The History of Wazuka Tea''. Wazuka-cho, Kyoto, Japan

Education

Wazuka has one public elementary school and one public junior high school operated by the ''Sōraku Tōbu kōiki rengō''. The town does not have a high school

Transportation

Railways

Wazuka does not have any passenger railway service. The nearest train station is Kamo Station on the

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

Kansai Main Line The is a railway line in Japan, which connects Nagoya Station with JR Namba Station in Osaka. It is jointly run by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West), with the boundary between both compan ...

Highways

Local attractions

* * * Wazuka town japan.jpg, Farmland in Wazuka Kebon teh.jpg, Cycling in Tea plantation in Wazuka, Kyoto Wazuka,KyotoIMG 1403.jpg, Scenery of the tea plantation in Wazuka Town Wazukatown center area.JPG, Wazukatown center area Wazuka,KyotoIMG 1469.jpg, Syohoujisan mountain in Wazuka Town Asakasinnou tomb01.jpg, Asakasinnou tomb Wazuka Magaibutsu.JPG, Wazuka Magaibutsu Kontaiji Temple Goma Houyou 20130901.jpg, Kontaiji Temple Goma Houyou Sikyakumon.jpg, Syohoji temple Sakajirikofun.jpg, Sakajiri Tomb No1 SakajiriNO2.jpg, Sakajiri Tomb No2 entrance

References

External links

*
Wazuka official website
{{Authority control Towns in Kyoto Prefecture