Tea Day / Black Tea Day / Genmaicha Day in Japan Date in the current year: November 1, 2025

Tea Day (Ocha no hi) commemorates the birthday of Shoichi Kokushi, also known as Enni Ben’en or simply Enni. Enni was a Japanese Buddhist monk who is credited with introducing tea to his native Shizuoka Prefecture on Honshu Island.

Born on November 1, 1202, Enni was a disciple of Eisai, another Buddhist monk who contributed to the popularization of tea in Japan. During his studies, Enni had a vision in which Sugawara no Michizane told him to go to China to study meditation. While there, he studied under the Chan (Zen) teacher Wuzhun Shifan, who introduced him to tea drunk by monks to stay alert during long meditation sessions.

Upon returning to Japan, Enni brought Chinese tea seeds and utensils to his native prefecture, popularizing the custom of drinking tea in Zen temples, just as his teacher, Eisai, had done on the island of Kyushu. In recognition of Enni’s contributions to the introduction of tea culture in Japan, Shizuoka Prefecture designated the anniversary of his birth as Tea Day in 2010.

The Japan Black Tea Association established Black Tea Day (Koucha no hi) in 1983 in honor of Daikokuya Kōdayū, a Japanese captain who spent nine years in Russia and was introduced to black tea there. In 1782, his ship, the Shinsho-maru, was caught in a storm and drifted across the North Pacific. After months at sea, the crew landed on Amchitka Island, where most of them died due to the harsh climate and lack of food.

Kōdayū and a few other survivors eventually made their way to Siberia, where they spent nearly nine years. In 1791, he accompanied Erik Laxmann, a Swedish scientist he had met in Irkutsk, to Saint Petersburg to request permission to return home. With Laxmann’s help, Kōdayū secured an audience with Catherine the Great, who allowed him and his people to return to Japan.

During this audience, said to have taken place on November 1, 1791, Kōdayū was served black tea. At the time, the tea consumed in Japan was almost exclusively green, while black tea was widely consumed in Russia. Kōdayū is believed to be one of the first Japanese men to drink black tea, if not the first. Although he did not personally bring black tea to Japan, his accounts are among the earliest Japanese references to it.

The National Grain Industry Cooperative Association created Genmaicha Day (Genmaicha no hi) in honor of Japanese brown rice green tea. Genmaicha consists of green tea, typically bancha or sencha, mixed with roasted brown rice. Historically, it was referred to as “people’s tea” because rice served as a filler, reducing the price of tea and making genmaicha affordable for poorer people.

Nowadays, however, genmaicha is a popular tea, enjoyed for its unique taste. It has a mild flavor that combines the fresh, grassy notes of green tea with the nutty aroma of roasted rice. It is less bitter than pure green tea and slightly sweet due to the sugar in the rice.