The Origins of Japanese Culture 2
From Ancient Japan to Japanese Tea — Yame, Kyushu
Today, Yame in Kyushu is famous throughout Japan for its tea.
But tea is only one part of Yame's story. The name Yame itself has a much older history. More than 1,300 years ago, it was already recorded in the Nihon Shoki, one of Japan's oldest surviving chronicles.
We recently travelled through Yame in Kyushu, exploring its beautiful landscape and tea-growing region. Before we talk about Yame tea, however, let us go back to an ancient story about this land.
Emperor Keikō and the Goddess of Yame
According to the Nihon Shoki, Emperor Keikō, traditionally regarded as the 12th Emperor of Japan, travelled through Kyushu.
When he came to the area of present-day Yame, he saw the beautiful mountains and asked about the land.
A local leader, Minuma-no-Agatanushi Saruōmi, told him that a goddess named Yametsuhime (八女津媛) lived in these mountains.
The Nihon Shoki connects this goddess with the origin of the name Yame.
Is this story historical fact?
We don't know.
The earliest emperors described in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki belong to a period for which we have very limited contemporary written evidence. Many of the stories about them contain a mixture of mythology, oral tradition, political memory and what later generations regarded as history.
But that is precisely what makes these ancient chronicles so fascinating.
They tell us not only about what may have happened, but also about how the people who created the early Japanese state understood their country's origins.
Japan's Two Ancient Chronicles
To understand this story, it helps to know a little about Japan's two great ancient chronicles: the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki.
The Kojiki was completed in 712, and the Nihon Shoki in 720.
Both bring together mythology, genealogies of the Imperial line, ancient traditions and accounts of Japan's early rulers. They were compiled at a time when Japan was developing a more centralised state and defining its political identity.
The two books are not identical and should not simply be regarded as two versions of the same history.
The Kojiki is particularly important for its preservation of Japanese myths, traditions and the genealogy of the Imperial line.
The Nihon Shoki, meanwhile, was written largely in classical Chinese and organised as a chronological history. Its form reflects the powerful influence of the Chinese tradition of official historiography.
Learning to Write History from China
As we discussed in our previous article, China had been recording history for centuries before Japan's surviving national chronicles were compiled.
One of the greatest examples is the Shiji, or Records of the Grand Historian, written by Sima Qian around the first century BC.
Chinese civilisation profoundly influenced early Japan — its writing system, Buddhism, government institutions, philosophy and scholarship.
The writing of history was part of that influence.
The Nihon Shoki therefore belongs not only to the story of Japan, but also to the much wider intellectual world of ancient East Asia.
Japan was beginning to tell its own story using, in part, methods of historical writing that had developed on the Asian continent.
History, Legend — and the Mountains of Yame
So, did Emperor Keikō really stand among the mountains of Yame and hear about a goddess called Yametsuhime?
Perhaps not.
But more than 1,300 years ago, the people compiling one of Japan's most important historical works thought this story was worth recording.
And today, the name remains:
Yame.
There is something rather wonderful about standing in the mountains and tea fields of Yame today and knowing that the name of this place appears in a Japanese chronicle completed in AD 720.
And Then Came Tea
Tea cultivation in Yame came much later.
The origins of Yame tea are traditionally dated to 1423, when the Zen monk Eirin Shūzui returned from China and introduced tea seeds and tea-making techniques to the area.
Over the following six centuries, tea cultivation became deeply connected with the landscape and culture of Yame.
Today, Yame is one of Japan's celebrated tea-producing regions, particularly famous for its high-quality green tea and Gyokuro.
So the tea fields we see today are not from the age of Emperor Keikō or Yametsuhime.
But they grow on land whose name has been part of Japan's recorded mythology and history for more than thirteen centuries.
From an ancient goddess in the mountains to the tea fields of modern Yame, the story reminds us that the Japanese products we enjoy today often have a much deeper history behind them.
As we continue our journey through Japan, we will explore more of the places, people and events that have shaped the country's history and culture.
Some of these stories may seem far removed from the Japan we know today. But, little by little, they help us understand where modern Japan came from — and the history and culture behind the things Japan now shares with the world.
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