Nishi Wazuka, Naka Wazuka, and Higashi Wazuka villages were merged into Wazuka town in 1954, and Yubune village was incorporated in 1956.Wazuka town is the third biggest town in Kyoto.

The Wazuka river flows through the center of the town, which is surrounded by the mountains covered with green beautiful tea plantations. This skillfully arranged beautiful scenery of the plantations, which makes us feel calm and confident, was registered as the first Kyoto Prefecture's Landscape Assets in 2008.

The Wazuka area has been long known for the production of high quality green tea. Fog, good soil conditions and big difference of temperature between night and day, all are indispensable for growing delicious green tea.Now,this place is the largest production center of Uji-cha, producing nearly 45% of the famous Uji tea.In addition,this area produces the largest amount of Ten-cha, which is the material of powdered green tea(Matcha).

It is said that, taking into consideration 11 ancient burial mounds found in the town, excavated articles from them and many place names suggesting the old times, there should be a settlement in this area in the Yayoi period. It was in the Nara era that the road which linked between Shigaraki-no-miya and Kuni-kyo via this place was constructed and the place name of “Wazuka” first appeared in the documents.

Mt.Juhou(684.5m)has many strangely shaped rocks and huge stones piling up on the hillside. This is one of the two sacred mountains along with Mt.Ohmine-san in Yamato and gathers many worshipers. Kontai-ji temple was founded in 676.It is strongly related to the Imperial family. This temple was designated by an Imperial order of the Emperor Shomu (701-756).There are many cultural assets in the precincts such as a two-storied pagoda and a wooden sedentary Maitreya-bodhisattva statue.

This temple is the venerable temple which virtuous priest Gyoki(668-749)built in the Tempyo era(729-749),Tofuku-mon-in (Tokugawa Kazuko, 1607 - 1678), the Empress of the Emperor Gomizuno-o(1596 -1680),worshiped at the temple, and, since then, it became the Imperial prayer temple.

This temple was built as an Imperial prayer temple by an Imperial order of the Emperor Gokogen(1334-1398)in 1363.It was ruined by an earthquake in 1596,and rebuilt in1655.

This shrine was founded as a Tenman-gu shrine in 983, dedicated to Michizane Sugawara. The main shrine was destroyed by fire during the fight of the northern and southern dynasties in 1336, and was rebuilt in 1348.(The main shrine is designated as a National Important Cultura1 Properties,)

This big tree stands on a small hill in the central part of Wazuka town and can be seen from a distance. It is said to be more than 1,300 years old. The trunk circumference is 12.8m, and the height reaches up to 31m.It is the biggest cedar in Kyoto Prefecture. (Kyoto Prefecture Natural Monument)

From the demesne of the Buddhist temple and Shinto shrine to that of the Imperial Family.

Wazuka area was the demesne of Kofuku-ji temple of Nara and Kitano-Tenman-gu shrine of Kyoto in the Heian and Kamakura eras. It used to be called as Wazuka –somanosho or Wazuka-sho.

In the Edo era, when Tokugawa Kazuko(1607-1678,1ater called Tofuku-mon-in)who was a daughter of the second Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada(1579-1632)became the Empress of the Emperor Gomizunoo(1596-1680),this area was dedicated to the Imperial court, and became the territory that the Imperial Family controlled directly.

Became famous as a production area of tea

It is said that tea cultivation in Wazuka began when the high priest Jishin shonin(1170-1243)of Kaijusen-ji temple, which is just to the west of Wazuka, received some seeds of tea from the high priest Myoe shonin (1173 - 1232) of Togano-o, Kyoto, and started cultivating tea at the foot of Mt.Jubou in Wazuka. Myoe shonin is called the father of tea business.

After that, tea cultivation spread in Wazuka. It is because Wazuka river f1ows through the center of the basin which is surrounded by mountains with a1ot of woods and the temperature difference between day and night is big, and, as a result, the area gets foggy easily. The fog wraps tea leaves tenderly, keeps out some of the sunlight and raises good smelling and tasty tea.

It became the Imperial Family territory in the Edo era, and Wazuka’s tea came to be presented to Kyoto Imperia1 Palace. And then, the policy of tea conservation in the middle of the Edo era led tea business in Wazuka to develop further.