A cloth bag of the early modern Edo period (the latter half of the 18th century) was excavated from the road remains of the Minamimotomachi site, Shinjuku, Tokyo. This bag contained stems and leaves of plants. The material of the cloth bag was anatomically identified as fibers of the hemp (Cannabis sativa L.). From the plant morphological and anatomical studies, the contents of the bag were identified as stems and leaves of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze). These results agree well with the description in the historical literature that, during the Edo period, commoners drank tea by boiling tea leaves in hemp bags in a pot.
