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When did tea cultivation become established in Japan?

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Neatly planted rows of green tea bushes stretch across rolling fields with Mount Fuji, capped with snow, rising in the background in Japan. — tea Rows of tea (*Camellia sinensis*) growing in Japan, with Mount Fuji in the background.

While tea was introduced to Japan from China as early as the Heian period (794–1185) and seeds were first brought to the country around 800 CE, tea cultivation did not become firmly established in Japan until the 13th century.12

During the subsequent Kamakura period (1192–1333), Zen monks began practicing ritual tea drinking to aid in meditation, a practice that eventually evolved into the formal tea ceremony.34