The term "culture" generally refers to practices and customs including clothes, food and housing as well as various arts, ethics, religions, politics and economies that support them, with the more refined formats such as tea ceremony or flower arrangement being more dependent on the maturity of the society at the time. Among these, tea may be especially noteworthy as it has been widely used as a favored beverage in various scenes in daily life, playing an important role in the development of Japanese society. As a medicinal agent, tea has psychotropic functions that activate senses, thoughts or association of ideas, and remove or alleviate drowsiness and fatigue. While alcohol, coffee or narcotics also have mind-altering effects, tea has been more widely accepted, possibly because of its milder effect and its adaptability to cultivation in different climate zones, leaving broad and deep impressions in the forming of the culture. In the fifth century, the rulers in Japan started opening state-run ranches throughout the country to raise horses and cattle, which drove population growth, spurred a commodity economy and gave rise to an associated birth of logistics providers. The ranch administrators, however, gradually built up political and economic power over the years to become samurai, who would eventually come to rule the country. In the Japanese Middle Ages, many merchants who had accumulated wealth in trades, finance, sake breweries or leather industries enjoyed gatherings with tea, which became the very popular tea ceremony. From these occasions, many of the now so-called classic arts with top-class artists were born. The popularity of the tea ceremony eventually produced SADO, the way of tea. Tea thus provided a cradle for many cultural elements as social barriers were often disregarded at such gatherings so that many artists and men of stature were able to emerge regardless of their backgrounds.