An 8-Year Journey: How a Single Master and His Staff Revitalized Soil That Even Professionals Had Given Up On Through Their Pride
The story is set in Kai Enshu in the spring of 2026. Once again this year, fresh tea tree buds have begun to emerge in the courtyard of Kai Enshu. “Tsumugi Tea Fields” depicts the striped pattern of “Enshū Mentsumugi,” a traditional craft of Shizuoka, using the green of the tea trees and the autumn colors of the Japanese andromeda. While many guests now tell us, “How beautiful,” for us staff members, this greenery is more than just a view. It is the crystallization of the “determination” with which one man—driven by a passion that might even be called reckless—and all of us staff members, spurred on by that passion, have literally gotten our hands dirty to preserve it. At the center of it all is Shinpei Takeno. What he brought to this inn was not just his knowledge of tea. It was a strong determination to reclaim, with our own hands, the symbol of this facility that had once nearly been lost.
A “Seeker” from Alaska: Mr. Takeno was transferred to Kai Enshu in 2016. At the time, we were all surprised to hear about his background. “My previous job was at a hotel in Alaska,” Mr. Takeno said with a smile. He is originally from Nara Prefecture. He began his career at a ryokan in Arima Onsen, where he says he was introduced to the depths of Japanese culture through tea ceremony classes held as part of the staff training program. He moved to Alaska driven by a longing for untouched nature and a desire to “share Japanese tea culture with people around the world.” In that bitterly cold land, despite facing language barriers, he served matcha to his colleagues and created a circle of smiles… With that experience under his belt, he came to Hamamatsu—one of Japan’s premier tea-producing regions—saying, “I want to study sencha.” Mr. Takeno says that when he first took up his post at Kai Enshu, he was still just a staff member who “liked tea.” At that time, the hotel did not specialize in “Shizuoka sencha” as it does now; instead, it served sencha, matcha, hojicha, and black tea from all over Japan. It was then that the manager at the time told him the following: “Mr. Takeno, if you’re serious about tea, you’d better get your ‘Japanese Tea Instructor’ certification. Without it, the tea shops in Shizuoka won’t take you seriously.” It is said that this single remark ignited the competitive spirit within Mr. Takeno. The Japanese Tea Instructor certification is a highly challenging qualification with a pass rate of only about 30 percent. History, cultivation, production, chemical composition, and appraisal techniques—he had to master the vast world of tea. From then on, he began studying intensively, squeezing in time between his work duties. In his first year, he passed the written exam. However, he hit a wall during the practical exam. The appraisal exam required her to rank five different types of tea leaves in order of quality based on appearance and aroma. She couldn’t tell the difference at all. The result was a failure. “I want to reach a level where tea shops will take me seriously.” Having made that vow, Ms. Takeno spent the following year visiting tea masters, tea wholesalers, and tea farmers on her own. He rode on tea-picking machines to experience the harvest firsthand, set foot in a tea plantation at an elevation of 1,000 meters—said to be the highest in Japan—and spoke with a young tea master at a long-established tea house. Then, in his second year, he successfully passed the exam. His thirst for knowledge only grew stronger. In 2019, he discovered the art of Sencha, and in January 2024, he finally became a master instructor. He is now even invited to speak as an instructor at local kindergartens and community centers. When he talks about tea, his words are imbued not just with knowledge, but with an overwhelming “passion.” However, despite his enthusiasm, the “Tsumugi Tea Fields”—the symbol of the inn—were on the brink of crisis.
“Tea plants won’t grow in conditions like this.” Furthermore, when they measured the soil’s pH level, it was heavily alkaline—a condition that tea plants cannot tolerate. Not only was the soil that had been laid down not acidic, but substances leaching from the concrete had actually altered the soil itself. The reason the experts had given up was that the land itself “refused to nurture tea.” “Let’s rebuild the tea plantation from scratch.” After repeated discussions with the manager and experts, a decision was made in 2022 to undertake an unprecedented reconstruction project: tearing down the completed tea plantation and starting over.
© Source travel watch