Fushun ふうしゅん

Fushun is a high-yielding Japanese tea cultivar developed from a cross between Z1 and Kanayamidori in 1965, undergoing a 27-year development period before being registered in 1991. Named "wealthy spring" for its exceptional productivity, Fushun is a late-budding cultivar that produces 23% higher spring yields than Yabukita and is particularly suited for mountainous regions due to its vigorous growth, excellent disease resistance, and strong frost tolerance. The cultivar features rapid canopy development, upright growth habit, and produces quality sencha with good color and umami characteristics, though it requires careful trimming management due to its strong vertical growth tendency.

Lineage

• Z1♀
• Kanayamidori♂^[1]

History

Fushun, a cultivar resulting from a cross between Z1 and Kanayamidori in 1965 at the now National Tea Research Center in Kanaya, Shizuoka, underwent a 27-year development period. During this time, it was discovered to be a high-yielding and highly resistant tea bush. In 1991, it was officially registered as a sencha cultivar. Initially, during its breeding period, at the nursery, it underwent extensive evaluations together with more than 100 other strains resulting from the crossings. After the initial trials in 1973, only two strains out of a shortlist of 10 were selected for further evaluation. In 1974, after the selection at the nursery, the strain continued to be evaluated for other characteristics, such as rooting and the viability of its cuttings, under the strain name F₁-NN-71. Later, it underwent evaluation for propagation, rooting, and initial growth in the fields before progressing to strain adaptability tests in several prefectures from 1984 to 1990. Before those tests, in 1983^[2], it was renamed as Kanaya No.12^[3].

In 1990, after analyzing the tea characteristics of various regions, including flavor, aroma, adaptability, yield, and pest resistance, the research concluded that the Fushun tea bush is a robust and highly yielding late-budding tea bush suitable for cultivation in mountainous regions. In particular for the cooler central and eastern mountainous regions of Honshu, Japan’s main island. Consequently, in 1991, the cultivar was registered as cultivar No.41^[4] in the MAFF registry and named Fushun, which can be translated as “wealthy spring” when written in kanji^[5]. The release paper explains that this name originates from the belief that cultivating Fushun will bring wealth to those who cultivate it, due to its high-yielding properties.

Characteristics

Fushun is a resilient and vigorous bush that is also known for its high yield and quality. It has a thick canopy of leaves, a large stump, and a medium-sized shape. The plant grows slightly upright at first, but later spreads sideways. This upright growth behavior requires farmers to be more careful with trimming and timing than with other, more fan shaped cultivars. This is due to the apex dominance that promotes growth upwards while suppressing lateral growth. Its leaves size is medium and lanceolate, similar to Yamakai^[6]. The leaves of this cultivar are light green, slightly shiny, not wrinkly and slightly thick. They gain a more vivid, bright-green color after just a few days of shading. Its vigorous root system seems to grow better than other cultivars in dense clay soil. The release paper also notes its wide adaptability to various soils.

The number of branches is large, with a medium internodal distance and numerous buds. The branches are relatively long, similar in length to Yabukita. The 100 bud weight is considered medium, similar to Yabukita and Kanayamidori in the study. However, the number of shoots is much higher, with 182 shoots in spring, compared to 111 of Yabukita and 152 of Kanayamidori in the study. In summer, the number of shoots is quite similar between the three cultivars. The amount of thricomes is also similar to Yabukita. Budding time and harvesting time are on average 5 days later than Yabukita, although it tends to be identical in colder areas.

Cuttings of Fushun exhibit vigorous growth and a high survival rate during the initial stages. The study reveals that after five years of growth, Fushun is approximately 15% taller and its stump is 20% larger compared to Yabukita. These figures are even more impressive in the younger stages of growth, which also exhibit a rapid expansion of their leaf canopy surface. This canopy surface is a crucial factor in Fushun’s high-yielding results, as it can rapidly deploy a dense canopy. If replanting from scratch, this minimizes the period of non-productive field time, and the turnover time can be reduced. The report also mentions that even the yield of young bushes is quite high. In mature bushes, Fushun produces higher yields during both spring and summer, averaging around 23% and 8% respectively, compared to Yabukita.

Fushun processed as sencha has a good external shape and color. However, its larger leaves harvested late might make its shape evaluation poorer compared to Yabukita. In terms of aroma, taste, and liquor color, its evaluation was considered medium, with a good vivid liquor. The study reported these evaluations as medium. Comparing Yabukita and Kanayamidori, Fushun’s overall quality is considered high, especially when compared to them in terms of umami. Its aroma profile in mountainous areas is also highly evaluated, making it a recommendation for use in mountain sites. Fushun’s chemical analysis for amino acids reported a medium concentration, with a higher concentration of tannins and caffeine.

In terms of pests, this cultivar is exceptionally resistant to frost damage, including laceration-type frost damage. Additionally, it exhibits high resistance to anthracnose, ring blight, and glutinous disease, commonly known as mochi disease in Japan. Notably, its resistance surpasses that of both Yabukita and Kanayamidori in the study.

References

農林水産省野菜茶業試験場. 1992. 野菜・茶業試験場研究報告 B (5) 茶業, 農林水産省野菜・茶業試験場, doi:10.11501/2332081

品種登録迅速化総合電子化システム.
https://www.hinshu2.maff.go.jp/vips/cmm/apCMM112.aspx?TOUROKU\_NO=3697&LANGUAGE=Japanese Accessed 11 August 2025.

静岡県茶業会議所. 茶の品種. 2003. 2nd ed., 静岡県茶業会議所, 2019, https://shizuoka-cha.com/index.php/books.