Sayamamidori: The Tea Cultivar That Became a Parent Instead

Japan registered its first tea cultivars in 1953, fifteen of them at once. Number 5 was Sayamamidori. Number 6 was Yabukita. Yabukita now covers about eight tenths of the country's tea fields. Sayamamidori is not among the main cultivars its own home prefecture lists as grown today.

That reads like a story about a plant that lost. Going through the breeding records changed my mind. Sayamamidori keeps appearing in them, never as the crop, always in the parentage column. It did not get beaten so much as absorbed.

Key Takeaways

• Sayamamidori is Chanorin No. 5, registered in 1953 for sencha, under the line name Saitama No. 1.
• It was selected in 1935 from seedlings of Uji stock, so Saitama's founding cultivar is genetically a Kyoto plant.
• Yabukita is Chanorin No. 6, from the same inaugural batch of fifteen. That registration was retrospective, recording plants already in the ground.
• Five registered cultivars carry its lineage: Okumusashi, Toyoka, Fukumidori, Hokumei and Miyamakaori.
• It remains on Saitama's recommended cultivar list, but is absent from the prefecture's list of main cultivars actually grown.

What is the Sayamamidori tea cultivar?

Sayamamidori (さやまみどり, roughly "Sayama green") is a Japanese green tea cultivar registered in 1953 as Chanorin No. 5, intended for sencha, and the earliest registered cultivar associated with Saitama Prefecture. Its old line name was Saitama No. 1.

One correction worth making early, because most accounts get it wrong. Saitama's formal tea breeding programme did not begin until 1947, and Sayamamidori was selected in 1935 (埼玉県, 茶品種育成の現状と展望). The prefecture does count it among the eleven cultivars it has registered, and fairly so, but it is not a product of that programme. It is the plant the programme inherited, picked out of a seedling population years before anyone in Saitama was systematically crossing anything.

Saitama sits near the practical northern limit of commercial tea in Japan, which shapes what gets bred there. If you want the wider naming system, our guide to Japanese tea cultivars covers it. And do not confuse this plant with Sayamakaori, a different and far more widely planted Saitama cultivar registered in 1971. The names differ by one syllable. The plants are unrelated, and Sayamakaori is a Yabukita seedling, not a Sayamamidori descendant.

What the 1953 register records about Sayamamidori

The original naming notice, published in October 1953, gives each founding cultivar a short entry. Sayamamidori's reads (茶業研究報告 第2号, 茶の品種登録と命名, retrieved 2026-09-11):

• Registration: 茶農林5号, Chanorin No. 5
• Former line name: 埼玉1号, Saitama No. 1
• Origin: selected in 1935 from among seedlings of Uji stock, and named Saitama A-1 in 1939 when the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry established its designated foundation stock plot
• Character: mid season, upright habit, very strong vigour, leaves large and elliptical and deep green, particularly strong cold and frost resistance, strong disease and drought resistance, high yield, excellent quality as ordinary sencha
• Suited to: Saitama, Kantō, Hokuriku and the cold districts of Tōhoku
• Name: chosen to express where it was raised and where it was mainly spread

Now read Yabukita's entry from the same page. Large long elliptical leaves, fairly strong cold resistance, and one flaw named outright, a weakness to anthracnose. Its suitable area is given as Shizuoka and every prefecture in the country.

That last line is the whole story, written in 1953 before either plant's fate was decided. One cultivar was recorded as suiting the cold northern margin. The other was recorded as suiting everywhere. Nobody had to choose a winner afterwards, the paperwork had already framed one as regional and one as national.

Sayamamidori came from Uji, not Sayama

The origin line says seedlings of Uji stock. Uji is in Kyoto, a long way southwest of Sayama. The plant that anchors tea breeding in Japan's northern tea country was selected out of seed from Japan's oldest famous tea district, and the register is explicit that its name marks where it was raised and spread rather than where its genes came from.

This was ordinary practice then. Asatsuyu at number 2, Miyoshi at number 3 and Tamamidori at number 4 are all recorded the same way, as Uji seedling selections. Yabukita is the Shizuoka version of the same method. Early Japanese tea breeding was not making new plants, it was walking through existing seedling populations and keeping the best individuals. Deliberate crossing does not appear in the register until the 1960s.

Number 5 and number 6, in the same batch

The 1953 notice opens by saying tea cultivar registration was being carried out for the first time that fiscal year, and that many of the plants concerned were already widely planted. Fifteen cultivars were registered together, ten for green tea and five for black.

So Sayamamidori and Yabukita were not rivals released against each other. They were consecutive entries in a single retrospective filing that documented what Japanese growers were already doing.

What came after is not close. Saitama's tea research institute puts Yabukita at just under eight tenths of national planted area and 65 percent within Saitama itself (埼玉県茶業研究所, 埼玉県で栽培されている茶の品種, updated 2026-01-05). Japan's agriculture ministry gives the national figure as about 80 percent (農林水産省, 新品種・新技術の開発・保護・普及の方針 茶).

Five cultivars that carry Sayamamidori

Read the parentage column of the national register instead of the planting figures and the plant is everywhere.

Cultivar	Chanorin No.	Year	Cross as printed	Relationship
Okumusashi (おくむさし)	No. 26	1962	Sayamamidori × Yamatomidori	Direct parent
Toyoka (とよか)	No. 33	1976	Sayamamidori × Yabukita	Direct parent
Fukumidori (ふくみどり)	No. 36	1986	Yabukita × 23F1107 (Sayamamidori × Yabukita)	Grandparent
Hokumei (ほくめい)	No. 43	1992	Sayamamidori × 5507	Seed parent
Miyamakaori (みやまかおり)	No. 52	2003	Kyōken 283 × Saitama No. 1	Direct parent

Miyamakaori is the one that surprised me. Saitama No. 1 is Sayamamidori's own line name, so this is a direct cross, and it was bred in Miyazaki at the southern end of Japan, half a century after the plant was registered and hundreds of kilometres from the cold margin it was recorded as suiting. There is one more step out: breeding stock line F95181, registered in 2004 at Makurazaki, is Taliensis × Okumusashi, which puts Sayamamidori a generation further back again.

Japan's national agriculture and food research organisation records Hokumei's cross as Sayamamidori (♀) × Saitama No. 13 (♂), with plant variety registration in November 1995 under number 4775, and states the name was given in the hope that a strongly cold resistant plant would spread at the northern limit of tea growing (農研機構, 茶品種ハンドブック 第6版). Hokumei is picked three to five days later than Yabukita. The two registers label its pollen parent differently, 5507 in one and Saitama No. 13 in the other. The Chanorin list glosses 5507 as a Yabukita natural seedling, so the parent is Yabukita derived either way and the open question is only which designation is primary.

What I am not going to claim is that Sayamamidori is the source of its descendants' cold hardiness. Cold hardiness is the entire Saitama programme's objective, stated outright in the prefecture's own review, which says the most important breeding target is cold resistance and that every cultivar it has bred so far carries cold-resistant character (埼玉県, 茶品種育成の現状と展望). It shows up across Saitama cultivars with no connection to this plant, and no source I found credits Sayamamidori specifically. What the record supports is narrower and still interesting: it was a productive, compatible parent inside a programme whose goal was hardiness, and it stayed in use as one for fifty years.

What Sayamamidori asks of the grower, and how it tastes

Saitama publishes a trait table for its recommended cultivars, which is where the current agronomic picture comes from (埼玉県, 茶奨励品種の特性表). Sayamamidori was adopted as a recommended cultivar in 1961 and is still on that table: upright, somewhat late, picked about four days after Yabukita, and rated slightly weak on both cold measures.

That cold rating deserves a note, because it contradicts the 1953 entry, which called the same plant particularly cold and frost resistant. The plant did not change. The benchmark did. In 1953 it was being compared against the unselected local populations it was replacing. Today it is compared against modern cultivars bred specifically for hardiness. Cultivar records are relative documents, and reading an old one as an absolute is a good way to publish something false.

On disease it does better than the usual summary suggests. The Saitama table rates Sayamamidori moderate on anthracnose against Yabukita's weak, and the 1953 notice independently names anthracnose as Yabukita's flaw while describing Sayamamidori as strong on disease resistance. On that one measure it beats the plant that replaced it.

Aroma is where it is genuinely distinctive, and there is a peer reviewed study on exactly this. Comparing Sayamamidori and Yabukita sencha, researchers found Sayamamidori carries fewer monoterpene alcohols but markedly more nerolidol, giving a sweet floral character, and that withering converts a woody smelling compound into an ester with chrysanthemum and celery notes while reducing indole and the off note caproic acid (山西貞ら, さやまみどりおよびやぶきた煎茶の香気の比較, 茶業研究報告 41, 1974). That is a plant that rewards the withering step Sayama handling is known for, and it is a specific, testable reason to handle it differently rather than a vague claim of good aroma. Fifty years on, Saitama's own trait table still gives Sayamamidori's defining quality as 萎凋香, withering aroma, and lists its standout characteristic as good quality of exactly that kind. The 1974 laboratory finding and the prefecture's current one-line summary of the plant are the same observation.

One thing to be careful about: the 1953 description calls the leaf deep green. That is the leaf, not the brewed cup. I have seen that turned into "brews a dark green liquor" and the source does not say it.

Is Sayamamidori still grown in Saitama?

Partly, and the two Saitama documents disagree in a way that is worth reading carefully rather than flattening.

It is still on the prefecture's recommended cultivar table, alongside Yabukita, Sayamakaori, Fukumidori, Hokumei, Musashikaori, Sainomidori, Yumewakaba and its own child Okumusashi. Official standing, intact.

But Saitama's page on cultivars grown in the prefecture lists nine main ones, Yabukita, Sayamakaori, Fukumidori, Hokumei, Musashikaori, Sainomidori, Yumewakaba, Okuharuka and Sayamaakari, and Sayamamidori is not among them.

That page describes the main cultivars and notes the institute maintains over two hundred varieties, so this is absence from a curated list of what matters commercially, not evidence that no plant of it exists. Of those nine, two carry its lineage: Fukumidori and Hokumei. Musashikaori, despite the Saitama connection, descends from Sayamakaori.

I could not find an acreage figure for Sayamamidori, and I do not think an honest one is publishable. National cultivar statistics break out only the largest few and pool everything else into an undifferentiated remainder, so its absence there cannot distinguish "barely planted" from "not separately counted". If you see a hectare number for this cultivar, ask where it came from.

Realistically you are unlikely to drink a single cultivar Sayamamidori, and we do not stock one. The nearest living relatives you can actually find are Fukumidori and Hokumei. Our other cultivar profiles, including Yutakamidori, Benifuuki and Kanayamidori, follow the same trail through the same records.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sayamamidori tea?

Sayamamidori is a Japanese green tea cultivar registered in 1953 as Chanorin No. 5 for sencha production, under the line name Saitama No. 1. It is the earliest registered cultivar associated with Saitama Prefecture, and was selected in 1935 from seedlings of Uji stock.

Is Sayamamidori older than Yabukita?

They were registered in the same year, 1953, as Chanorin numbers 5 and 6, in the first batch of fifteen cultivars Japan ever registered. That registration was retrospective and recorded plants already in wide use, so the lower number does not mean the older plant.

Where does Sayamamidori come from?

It was selected in 1935 from among seedlings of Uji stock, making Saitama's founding cultivar genetically a Kyoto plant. The 1953 register states its name expresses where it was raised and mainly spread, not its ancestry.

What cultivars come from Sayamamidori?

Five registered cultivars: Okumusashi (No. 26, 1962), Toyoka (No. 33, 1976), Fukumidori (No. 36, 1986, as a grandparent), Hokumei (No. 43, 1992, as seed parent) and Miyamakaori (No. 52, 2003, via its line name Saitama No. 1). Breeding stock line F95181 (2004) descends from Okumusashi. Musashikaori and Sainomidori descend from Sayamakaori, not from this plant.

Is Sayamamidori still grown?

It remains on Saitama's recommended cultivar table, but it is not among the nine main cultivars the prefecture lists as grown there. No acreage figure is publishable, because national statistics pool all minor cultivars into a single remainder category. Two of the nine currently listed, Fukumidori and Hokumei, carry its lineage.

What does Sayamamidori taste like?

The 1953 register rated it excellent as ordinary sencha. A 1974 study found it carries markedly more nerolidol than Yabukita, giving a sweet floral character, and that withering converts a woody compound into an ester with chrysanthemum and celery notes. It is a cultivar that rewards withering.

A note from me

I started this expecting a small regional story and ended up thinking about what counts as success for a plant.

Sayamamidori lost the only contest anyone tallies, the one measured in hectares, to a cultivar registered one number after it in the same batch. By the figure that gets printed, it is a footnote.

Then you read the parentage column and it is on page after page. What strikes me is that the 1953 register had already decided the outcome without anyone noticing. Yabukita was written down as suiting every prefecture. Sayamamidori was written down as suiting the cold edge. Both descriptions were accurate, and only one of them was a description of a future.

Almost nothing in tea is the work of one visible name. The cultivar in your cup sits at the end of a long line of plants that never made a catalogue and were never meant to. Being replaced and being forgotten turn out to be different things, and I find that a more useful thought than most of what gets said about heritage.

Written by Christian, founder of One with Tea. I read the Japanese sources below in the original on 11 September 2026. The 1953 naming notice, the national cultivar register, the NARO handbook, the two Saitama prefecture documents and the 1974 aroma study are primary or peer reviewed. Where a claim rests on a weaker source, or where two registers disagree, I have said so in the text rather than smoothing it over.

Sources

• 茶業研究報告 第2号 (1953年10月), 「茶の品種登録と命名」, the contemporaneous official naming notice. Used for: Sayamamidori as Chanorin No. 5 with line name 埼玉1号; its 1935 selection from Uji seedlings and 1939 naming as Saitama A-1; its 1953 character description and its suitable area of Saitama, Kantō, Hokuriku and cold Tōhoku; Yabukita as Chanorin No. 6 with long elliptical leaves, anthracnose susceptibility and a suitable area of Shizuoka and all prefectures; and the statement that registration was carried out for the first time that year, covering fifteen cultivars already in wide use. Retrieved 2026-09-11.

• 附表１ 茶農林登録品種一覧, the national Chanorin registered cultivar list. Used for: the parentage rows of Okumusashi (No. 26, 1962), Toyoka (No. 33, 1976), Fukumidori (No. 36, 1986), Hokumei (No. 43, 1992), Miyamakaori (No. 52, 2003) and breeding stock F95181 (2004); Sayamakaori (No. 31, 1971) as a Yabukita seedling; and Musashikaori and Sainomidori as Sayamakaori descendants. Retrieved 2026-09-11.

• 農研機構, 茶品種ハンドブック 第6版. Used for: Hokumei's cross さやまみどり（♀）× 埼玉13号（♂）, its November 1995 plant variety registration number 4775, the northern limit naming explanation, and its three to five day later picking date. Retrieved 2026-09-11.

• 埼玉県, 「茶奨励品種の特性表」. Used for: Sayamamidori's continuing place on the recommended cultivar table and its 1961 adoption; its 萎凋香 (withering aroma) quality description; its upright habit, somewhat late picking about four days after Yabukita, and slightly weak cold ratings; and its moderate anthracnose rating against Yabukita's weak. Retrieved 2026-09-11.

• 埼玉県茶業研究所, 「埼玉県で栽培されている茶の品種」, updated 2026-01-05. Used for: the nine main cultivars listed as grown in Saitama and Sayamamidori's absence from that list; Yabukita at just under 80 percent nationally and 65 percent in Saitama; and the institute maintaining over 200 varieties. Retrieved 2026-09-11.

• 埼玉県, 「茶品種育成の現状と展望」. Used for: Saitama's tea breeding programme beginning in 1947, which postdates Sayamamidori's 1935 selection; the prefecture counting eleven registered cultivars including this one; and its statement that cold resistance is the programme's most important breeding objective. Retrieved 2026-09-11.

• 山西貞ら, 「さやまみどりおよびやぶきた煎茶の香気の比較」, 茶業研究報告 41, 48-53 (1974), peer reviewed. Used for: the nerolidol and monoterpene alcohol comparison against Yabukita, the conversion of a woody compound to an ester under withering, and the reduction of indole and caproic acid. Retrieved 2026-09-11.

• 農林水産省, 「新品種・新技術の開発・保護・普及の方針 茶」. Used for: the national figure of about 80 percent of planted area under Yabukita. Retrieved 2026-09-11.