The history of tea in Japan began as early as the 8th century, when the first known references were made in Japanese records. Tea became a drink of the religious classes in Japan when Japanese priests and envoys sent to China to learn about its culture brought tea to Japan. The Buddhist monks Kūkai and Saichō may have been the first to bring tea seeds to Japan. The first form of tea brought from China was probably brick tea. Tea became a drink of the royal classes when Emperor Saga encouraged the growth of tea plants. Seeds were imported from China, and cultivation in Japan began. Tea consumption became popular among the gentry during the 12th century, after the publication of Eisai's Kissa Yōjōki. Uji, with its strategic location near the capital at Kyoto, became Japan's first major tea-producing region during this period. Beginning in the 13th and 14th centuries, Japanese tea culture developed the distinctive features for which it is known today, and the Japanese tea ceremony emerged as a key component of that culture. In the following centuries, production increased and tea became a staple of the general public. The development of sencha in the 18th century led to the creation of distinctive new styles of green tea which now dominate tea consumption in Japan. In the 19th and 20th centuries, industrialization and automation transformed the Japanese tea industry into a highly efficient operation, capable of producing large quantities of tea despite Japan's limited arable land area. Early history The first Japanese contact with tea most likely occurred in the 8th century during the Nara period, when Japan sent several diplomatic missions to Chang'an, the capital of China's Tang dynasty. These early delegations brought back knowledge of Chinese culture and practices, as well as paintings, literature, and other artifacts. The Chakyō Shōsetsu indicates that Emperor Shōmu served powdered tea to a hundred monks in 729, but there is some uncertainty regarding the reliability of the text. In 804, the Buddhist monks Kūkai and Saichō arrived in China to study religion as part of a government-sponsored mission during the Heian period. The Shōryōshū, written in 814, mentions that Kūkai drank tea during his time in China. He returned to Japan in 806. Kūkai is also the first to use the term , which later came to refer specifically to the Japanese tea ceremony. Upon their return to Japan, Kūkai