Sixty tea plants descended from the original tea plants brought from Japan to Placerville California in 1869 are now planted at Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa. Nao Magami arranged the planting of the tea garden with Walter Byck, owner of Paradise Ridge, who graciously allowed for garden space and donated drip irrigation
installation and mulch. Henry Kaku, Sonoma County JACL member has been overseeing the maintenance of the garden.
The significance and value of these plants is described in the history of the Wakamatsu Farm. In 1869, 22
samurai and their families emigrated from Japan and established an agricultural settlement in Placerville.
The farm was dedicated to producing tea and silk. Their farm was called Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm
Colony and was the first Japanese colony in North America.
Today, the farm is managed by the American River Conservancy and is open to the
public. It is California Historical Landmark # 815 and listed on the U.S. National
Register of Historic Places.
Five years ago, Nao Magami learned that several hundred tea plants from the original
stock had survived over the past 150 years at the Wakamatsu Farm. He retrieved cuttings, rooted and planted them in a vineyard in Napa. That vineyard was sold in 2020 and Nao found a new home at Paradise Ridge where he transplanted them. In April 2021, Nao asked Henry to maintain and care for the plants as Nao lives in
Southern California, so Henry recruited and organized volunteers to weed and mulch the garden. These included many members from his DeLeon Judo Club and SoCo JACL board members, Phyllis Tajii, Sachiko Knappman and Gail Yamamoto Seymour. The tea garden sits among the grapevines on a ridge in the Fountaingrove area of Santa Rosa. The beautiful view from the garden overlooks the Russian River Valley toward Guerneville and the Sonoma Coast. Walter Byck appreciates Japanese history and culture having displayed in his museum, artifacts from Kanaye Nagasawa’s 19th century Fountaingrove Round Barn and winery.
Tragically, the Round Barn and museum were destroyed in the 2017 Tubbs Fire. We appreciate that Nao Magami pursued and persisted and with Walter Byck and Henry Kaku developed this new tea garden to honor the history of Japanese pioneers in California.
