Chatsubo Kuchikiri no Gi

During the Tokugawa shogunate in the Edo period, a special tea procession was created.

Tea leaves harvested in the spring were brought to the shogun every year.

Nowadays, a similar event is celebrated in November.

The idea is that fresh leaves from the first harvest of the year are stored in a chatsubo (茶壷, tea jar) and sealed with paper.

Then they are aged until November, when the tea jar opening ceremony is held.

In Uji, this public event is called chatsubo kuchikiri no gi (茶壷口切りの儀).

Note that this is slightly different from the event kuchikiri no chaji that happens in tea ceremony schools.

The chatsubo contains tencha leaves of the highest quality that are stored in a paper package.

They are surrounded by tencha of a lesser grade, which helps to keep them fresh.

Finally, the tencha leaves are ground into matcha and stored in a natsume (tea caddy for matcha).

I haven’t experienced this ceremony myself, but I saw a video that I want to share with you: