The "Kyotanabe Tea Festival" was held on September 27, 2026, in Kyotanabe City, Kyoto Prefecture, offering visitors a chance to experience the allure of tea—including the highly aromatic *gyokuro* (shaded green tea) produced in the local area. Participants enjoyed an elegant time engaging in various activities, such as learning how to brew *gyokuro* and whisk *matcha*, as well as participating in *chakabuki*—a traditional game where one tastes multiple teas and attempts to identify their varieties.
Organized by the Kyotanabe City Tourism Association and others, the event aimed to showcase the appeal of *gyokuro*, a premium green tea. Venues were set up at Shuo-an Ikkyu-ji Temple and "Kyotanabe Gyokuro-an," the city's tourist information center. Mayor Takashi Uemura, who had previously been invited to a tea ceremony commemorating the 20th anniversary of Yamanashi City (Yamanashi Prefecture) last year, invited Yamanashi City Mayor Haruo Takagi to attend this event.
At Ikkyu-ji Temple, participants tried their hand at *chakabuki*. They compared five types of tea—*gyokuro* from Kyotanabe and Yamashiro, *sencha* from Uji and Shizuoka, and a stem tea known as *karigane*—tasting each variety three times and competing to see who could correctly identify the most, with a maximum score of 15 points.
In addition to sales of "Kyotanabe Brand Ikkyu-hin" (specialty products certified by the Kyotanabe City Tourism Association) and items such as peaches and Japanese sweets from the Yamanashi City Tourism Association, the event featured "matcha art" at Gyokuro-an. Here, visitors enjoyed creating pictures using thick *matcha* paste on the tea they had whisked themselves.
