A teahouse with possibly the best tea in Rokugan. The house itself has a Crab Clan style, and its tea had a mild but unusual effect on Sumiko.
They have a garden to grow tea, processing, and a small tea house. The staff seemed to like Sumiko, and were politely distant with Tomoe.
Komachi's Travel Guide
The Field of Sharp Returns is known far and wide for its magnificent teas. Where the Inn of the Last Cherry Blossoms has variety and the kindness of home to draw upon, this place relies instead upon quality. This distinction forms the basis of the Rivalry between Ryu—the mistress of this house—and Tsuyuge. >
While this small building boasts several flavors of tea, the leaves remain the same for each. The field surrounding the building is the sole provider of these leaves, which are said to be favored by the kami of the grounds.>
Sadako's Otosan Uchi
Long ago, there was a prominent Crab lord named Ryoju. He was wealthy and popular among the noble caste, but best known for his time as a general on the Kaiu Wall. He served the Crab diligently for years until a maho-tsukai tricked him into murdering his own lord. Consumed with grief, he considered seppuku, but was persuaded instead to take a position in the Imperial City, far away from the front line. Ryoju accepted, returning his family sword before embarking on this new chapter of his life.
Ryoju was a kind and good-hearted lord, but his habits were uncontrollably lavish, and he soon found himself with little to his name other than this plot of land. The ground here was said to be haunted, and thus Ryoju ignored it until poverty forced his hand.
When he arrived, he found nothing here other than a single plant, old and wilted, soon to die. The first night he spent here, he received a vision from the ancestor who had left him the land. The ghost directed him to dig at the roots of the plant, where he found a long steel case containing a heavy item wrapped in treated cloth. Opening the package, he found the very sword he had returned after his disgrace, buried since his break with the Crab.
Betrayal welled within Ryoju and he lashed out at the spirit, knowing even as he swung the blade that he could do nothing to hurt it. Still, the ghost vanished when the blade touched it, and has not been seen again since. Ryoju thrust the katana into the soft earth before him, giving in to the rage that had ended the lives of so many goblins, ogres, and minor oni.
Following his outburst, Ryoju sank into a deep and enchanted sleep. He awoke to find the small plant replenished, grown as if over an entire season. Its leaves were full and ripe, and smelled of the sweetest bloom. A passing old man found him amidst the field, where several more tea plants had cropped up, and picked a single leaf to chew upon. “The finest I have tasted,” he claimed.
Since then, Hida Ryoju’s descendents have run this house and cultivated this tea. There is always a tea master of his line, and while his descendents live, his tea flourishes.