Akemi Ishimoto has been making kancha (Japanese: 寒茶), a unique winter bancha in Kuo village, Shishikuicho, Tokushima Prefecture for more than 35 years. 87 years young in 2024, Akemi Ishimoto has been a leader in preserving the centuries-old folk tea tradition of Shishikui Kancha. She is affectionately called "Kancha Ba-chan” (roughly, kancha granny) by the people in this region. Akemi-san says she has never met anyone who has loved kancha more than herself, and one can clearly see her passion when witnessing her make this beautiful tea.
Akemi-san founded the Kancha Production Association in 1988. This was the year the movement to make kancha into a specialty product in the Shishikui area became full-fledged. The association started with about 20 farmers, most of them grandmas. Kancha was commercialized through Kaifu Japan Agricultural Cooperative and other outlets. Currently, due to depopulation, it is mainly Akemi-san who keeps the Shishikui kancha tradition alive.
Over the years, Akemi-san has provided hands-on learning experiences of kancha making, mainly for children in the region. Unfortunately, there is no successor for her kancha. Consequently, there is a high possibility that her wild and wonderful mountain tea fields will become abandoned in the near future.
Despite the inevitable decline of Kuo Village, Akemi-san has helped to shine light on this small mountain village. In Tokushima Prefecture, villages where elderly people actively participate in a variety of local activities and contribute to regional revitalization are recognized as model cases. Called “Active Senior Certified Villages'', Kuo village received this recognition in 2021, thanks to the efforts of Akemi-san and the Kancha Production Association.
Shishikui Kancha Crafting Process
