As part of the university's Bridging Community Development Project, a Hiroshima University professor and student volunteers have been working with a local group to revive a famous tea offered in the past to the Asano samurai clan.

Associate Professor Naoko Itou of the School of Letters (Cultural Heritage Field) and student volunteers have been working with the local group "Mahoroba Kurotani" in the Kurotani district of Daiwa-Cho, Mihara City since the year 2019 on the "Tanoshu Nominchai - 楽しゅう 飲みん茶い (which translates to Enjoy Drinking Tea) Project" to revive the Japanese tea once offered to the Asano Clan and to raise awareness on the traditional crafts of the region, ultimately supporting the invigoration of the community.

On November 28, Associate Professor Itou, students of the School of Letters interested in cultural asset protection and traditional crafts, and Mrs. Miki Sugao, a table coordinator cooperating with this project since 2020, learned the process of making Japanese hand-rolled green tea from the members of Mahoroba Kurotani in the Kurotani area.

The students — who also participated in the harvesting process in May — learned the procedure of turning frozen tea leaves into Japanese tea by carefully rolling them for half a day on a special table for rolling tea leaves called “hoilo.” 

In this project, together with the members of Mahoroba Kurotani, who are working to revive the tea famous during the Edo period (1603-1867), the team is working to create a space to enjoy Japanese tea using traditional crafts from Hiroshima Prefecture.

So far, they have proposed designs such as the Kurotani Charuma (tea container) inspired by Mihara City's Shinmei Daruma and the Miyajima rokuro zaiku (woodturning) wooden Daruma tray. This year, they are developing a design for a Miyajima Osuna-yaki tea bowl.