inning of the Chow dynasty, but belongs more properly
to the era of Confucius, K'ung Kai, 551-479 B.C.

Although known in Japan for more than a thousand years, tea
only gradually became the national beverage as late as the
fourteenth century.

In the first half of the eighth century, 729 A.D., there was a
record made of a religious festival, at which the forty-fifth
Mikado---"Sublime Gate"--Shommei Tenno, entertained the Buddhist
priests with tea, a hitherto unknown beverage from Corea,
which country was for many years the high-road of Chinese
culture to Japan.

After the ninth century, 823 A.D., and for four centuries
thereafter, tea fell into disuse, and almost oblivion, among the
Japanese. The nobility, and Buddhist priests, however, continued
to drink it as a luxury.

During the reign of the eighty-third Emperor, 1199-1210 A.D.,
the cultivation of tea was permanently established in Japan. In
1200, the bonze, Yei-Sei, brought tea seeds from China, which
he planted on the mountains in one of the most northern provinces.
Yei-Sei is also credited with introducing the Chinese custom
of ceremonious tea-drinking. At any rate, he presented tea
seeds to Mei-ki, the abbot of the monastery of To-gano (to
whom the use of tea had been recommended for its stimulating
properties), and instructed him in the mystery of its cultivation,
treatment, and preparation. Mei-ki, who laid out plantations
near Uzi, was successful as a pupil, and even now the tea-growers
of that neighborhood pay tribute to his memory by annually
offering at his shrine the first gathered tea-leaves.

After that period, the use of tea became more and more in
fashion, the monks and their kindred having discovered its
property of keeping them awake during long vigils and nocturnal
prayers.

Prom this time on the development and progress of the plant are
interwoven with the histories and customs of these countries.

_ON TEA_

The following short poem by Edmund Waller is believed
to be the first one written in praise of the "cup that
does not inebriate":

Venus her myrtle, Phoebus has her bays;
Tea both excels, which she vouchsafes to praise.
The best of Queens, and best of herbs, we owe
To that bold nation, which the way did show
To the fair region where the sun doth rise,
Whose rich productions we so justly prize.
The Muse's friend, tea