About us

Kenichi Shizen Nouen is located in the Yamato Kougen(Yamato Plateau), on top of a mountain in the eastern part of the Nara Basin.

We inherited the tea farm from the people of Tsukiji, Yamazoe, Tawara, and Muro, and currently manage about 30 tea farms on about 11 hectares of land.

We do not use any pesticides or fertilizers, but cut the weeds as beautifully as possible to maintain harmony with the local community.

Our natural cultivation is a harmonious cultivation method that does not use any pesticides or fertilizers and follows the natural system to connect the beautiful soil and environment while enjoying the healthy bounty.

Kenichi Shizen Nouen started in 2001, when Kenichi Ikawa, the representative of Kenichi Shizen Nouen, rented a piece of farmland that had been abandoned for years and cleared it almost by himself.

More than 20 years later, the term “natural cultivation” is still not very well known in Japan.

The reason for this is that the term is not defined by law (JAS Law, etc.), there is no third-party certification, and there are very few farms that produce tea without using agricultural chemicals or fertilizers, so the term is not well known.

Insects and birds come to play in our tea farm, and various plants and flowers are spontaneously growing.

This scene should be natural, but many farms in Japan do not attract other living things.

We believe that if as many people as possible can enjoy our tea and continue to drink it, it will lead to the restoration and preservation of the natural environment and the physical and mental health of the people.

Tea is a truly diverse crop, with countless varieties of flavors and aromas that can be expressed from a single tea leaf.

We feel that this is due in part to the fact that the elements that form the flavor and aroma of tea are truly complex.

In addition to tea leaves, we also use branches and stems of tea trees for our most popular "Sannen Bancha".

They look like little blocks of wood, so some people ask, “Is this tea?”.

Tea flowers are used for flavoring and become tea flower black tea, tea flower oolong tea, and tea flower sencha.

Tea flowers are also used as raw materials for natural cosmetics, where the pure active ingredients are extracted in a natural way so that they can be applied to the skin without any discomfort.

The tea tree, from head to toe, flowers, seeds, and roots, all bring us pleasure and make us healthy.

The tea tree can change in a thousand ways depending on the ingenuity of the tea maker. Tea is a crop that can create a world depending on the creator's sensibility.

We are always excited by the possibilities of tea that have yet to be discovered, and hope that we can share the gifts of nature as widely as possible in the new society.

We currently manage about 30 tea farms.

Representative fields include Fukunohata, Kasuga, Someda, Kunimiyama, and Chayama, where we have been growing tea for more than 15 years by natural cultivation.

The Fukunohata which has been cultivated by natural cultivation for more than 15 years, produces strong, clear tea from yabukita cultivor, while Kasuga, which was the world's highest gold medal-winning tea farm more than 60 years ago, offers Japanese black tea with a captivating aroma. Kunimiyama, located in the best location overlooking the country of Yamato, offers matcha.

The tea farm at Hyakunen no Chayama, entrusted to us by a local farmer of more than 300 years, produces mainly Bancha (green tea).

People and tea trees are really the same. Depending on the environment and soil in which they were born and raised, the potential of the tea that can be harvested is different.

Applying chemical fertilizers or certain organic fertilizers will homogenize this individuality.

The true essence of tea production by natural cultivation is how to bring out what is inherent in the life of the tea.

In today's world, first- and second-flush teas are considered more valuable than Bancha, and winter is a quiet season for many tea farmers.
However, we produce tea all year round throughout the four seasons.
Even for Bancha, which is harvested between First flush (spring sprouts) and Second flush(summer sprouts), the taste and aroma of Bancha harvested in spring is interestingly different from that of Bancha harvested in fall. Depending on the time of year, they also have different effects on the human body.
In spring, spring bancha and spring hojicha are available, and in early summer, sencha, black tea, oolong tea, kama-airi tea, and powdered green tea are available from the first tea of the season. In summer, Bancha, Hojicha, and Nibancha to Oolong and black tea. In autumn, roasted Hojicha over a wood fire. In winter, we make Sannen Bancha, and the tea berries and flowers are used for health foods and organic cosmetics.
The sensitivity of the Japanese people has been fostered through tens of thousands of years of living along the four seasons. We exquisitely receive the blessings that can only be enjoyed in that season, and even the gestures of how we receive them are beautiful. As if inspired by this DNA, we will continue to create teas in accordance with the activities of the year, spring, summer, fall, and winter.

When we are standing in the tea gardens, I encounter a variety of living creatures. Every day we are reminded that we are part of nature, just like insects, birds, and other living creatures. Without nature, there would be no economy, and the natural world works in a very economical way, circulating water, air, energy, and life in a very efficient manner. Conversely, if something no longer conforms to the laws of nature, it will be gradually eliminated by natural selection. Rather than a choice between “a self-sacrificing way of life that protects the natural environment” and “a world that simply seeks money,” I would like to explore the true economy that lies beyond a deep insight into nature through the tea industry, transcending generations. Our goal is not to make tea, but to realize a future in which people can exist as nature, just like birds, insects, and other living creatures. I would like to visualize a model of Kenichi Shizen Nouen, make it open source, and develop it horizontally to spread such a future with people who have a relationship with us.