How historically significant is Horii Shichimeien?
Founded 1879. The shop stewards Okunoyama, the sole surviving garden of the original Uji Shichimeien — seven elite tea gardens designated by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu in the Muromachi period. Over 600 years of unbroken custodianship. In 1924, third-generation owner Horii Chojiro invented the Horii-style tencha manufacturing machine — the archetype every modern tencha processor in Japan descends from, including the equipment behind every other blend on this site. Twelve Agricultural Minister's Awards. This isn't marketing copy; it's the literal ancestor of the process that makes every other brand's matcha possible.
What does Horii Shichimeien cost per gram?
Twelve tracked blends, $0.53/g (Uji Mukashi) to $5.82/g (Uji Fudo) at Horii's own domestic pricing. That's a wide, legible ladder on paper.
Can you actually buy it?
Barely. Zero of Horii's 12 blends are in stock at Horii's own store as of 2026-09-10. Exactly three have any live purchase path at all, and only through a single US reseller, Ujicha Matcha, at a steep markup over the domestic price: Uji Mukashi ($0.53/g domestic → $1.83/g resold), Agata no Shiro ($0.69/g → $2.17/g), Choukou no Mukashi ($2.33/g → $5.17/g). The other 9 blends — including the $5.82/g Uji Fudo — have no live purchase path anywhere we track.
Is the reseller markup worth paying?
Uji Mukashi at $1.83/g. Yes. That's mid-tier pricing for the base ceremonial grade from a 600-year garden with no direct substitute — there's nothing else on this site with that provenance at that price. Choukou no Mukashi at $5.17/g is a harder call: that's ultra-premium pricing and we have no tasting data of our own to justify it. Don't buy Choukou no Mukashi to find out; buy Uji Mukashi if the provenance is what you're after.