昭和38年、奈良興福寺の境内跡から、陶器製の釜と碗が発掘されました。いずれも緑色の釉薬がかかっており、中国唐時代の影響を受けたものです。この釜を、お茶を煮出すためのものと見る説があります。日本にお茶が持ち込まれた記録としては、やや時代のくだる平安時代初頭までしか確認されていません。しかし奈良時代の寺院では、唐文化が受容されており、すでにお茶が飲まれていたのかもしれません。

A ceramic kettle and drinking bowl were unearthed at a location within the historical grounds of Kōfuku-ji in Nara in 1963. These are both glazed in green and are thought to have been influenced by the ceramics of the Tang Dynasty (618–907) in China.

Some scholars think that the kettle was used to boil tea leaves, but the earliest known trustworthy document on tea from China coming to Japan is from the early 9^th century. However, as Buddhist temples in the 8^th century adopted the culture of the Tang dynasty, it is certainly possible that people drank tea there.