なぜ入間が産地なのに狭山茶なのか

まず「狭山茶」の狭山は、入間市の南部に位置する狭山丘陵に由来します。狭山丘陵は、埼玉県と東京都に跨る丘陵で、広大な武蔵野台地の海原に、緑の小舟を浮かべたような孤立丘陵。「狭山」とは、この広い台地の中に孤立する「狭い山」を意味すると古くから言われています。
江戸後期、狭山丘陵山麓で吉川温恭（よしかわよしずみ）等によって関東地方で最も早く蒸し製煎茶作りが開始され、ここで作られる煎茶が初めて「狭山茶」と名付けられました。
明治となり、開港以来お茶の輸出が激増。明治政府の下、茶は生糸と並ぶ外貨獲得のための重要産品と位置付けられ、黒須村（現 入間市）に茶の輸出会社「狭山会社」※が設立されると、周辺地域一帯で作られる茶の総称を「狭山茶」に統一したものです。
現在は、埼玉県および隣接する東京都で作られるお茶を総称して「狭山茶」と呼ばれています。

※「狭山会社」とは、明治8（1878）年に茶を北米に輸出するため繁田満義等によって設立。日本人のみの輸出会社としては、日本で最初のものでした。この会社設立により「狭山茶」ブランドが確立。

 

Why is it called Sayama tea even though manufactured in Iruma area?

At first, Sayama of “Sayama tea” is derived from the Sayama Hills located in the southern part of Iruma City.
The Sayama Hills are the one that straddle Saitama Prefecture and Tokyo, and are isolated hills that look like a small green boat floating on the vast ocean of the Musashino Plateau.
“Sayama” has long been said to mean a “narrow mountain” isolated in this wide plateau.
In late Edo era, Yoshizumi Yoshikawa and his colleges had started to make tea leaves under steaming method for the first time in Kanto region. At that time, the leaves manufactured in this area had been named “Sayama tea”.
At the beginning of Meiji era, Japan had opened its ports to foreign countries, which caused the tea exports increase dramatically.
Under the Meiji government, tea is positioned as an important product for earning foreign currency along with raw silk, and when the tea export company “Sayama Company” * is established in Kurosu Village (currently Iruma City), the generic name of the teas made in the surrounding area has been unified to “Sayama Tea”
Currently, the teas made in Saitama Prefecture and the neighboring Tokyo are collectively called “Sayama Tea”.

* “Sayama company” was established in 1878 by Mitsuyoshi Shigeta, for the business of exporting teas to North America. It was the first Japanese-only exporting company in Japan. With the establishment of this company, the “Sayama Tea” brand had been penetrated throughout Japan.