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HAS JAPANESE
SAKE DISCARDED ITS INDIVIDUALITY?
Disappearing Is The Genuine Japanese SAKE
?
The basic technique for making SAKE using
yellow mold, "Koji", has long history of more than one
thousand years. Since then various and unique technique of brewing
SAKE has been adopted, such as new systems of mass-production and
methods of transportation developed in Edo period, simplified lactic-fermented
yeast-incubation mash, "Yamahai-shubo", and rapid-prepared
yeast-incubation mash, "Sokujou-shubo", exploited in Meiji
period, and new rice-polishing machine invented in Showa period.
It may well be said that the brewing-technique of Japanese SAKE
is itself a Japanese culture of drink.
Once upon a time, talking of drink, it meant
nothing but Japanese SAKE. But now, the amount of consumption of
SAKE has decreased to 60% of the highest amount, about 1,0million
kiloliter a year. Why is it so much on the decrease? We think it
comes from the attitude of the SAKE industry emphasizing only cost-down,
rationalization, and profit-first, without thinking of producing
the better SAKE. The easiest way for cost-down is to cut down the
raw-material-cost. Even though some brewers use rice-bran which
is to be thrown away in brewing genuine SAKE, they are allowed to
indicate their SAKE of "Pure Rice." In addition to this,
the severe bargain-race among the discount stores and supermarkets,
and the bigger packages or cups with fixed prices tends to make
the image of "junk-SAKE" fixed.
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No way but keeping to produce genuine SAKE.
The only way to regain the lost confidence, KIKUHIME thinks, is
to keep producing the genuine SAKE on and on.
Important are the Basics. Using the best rice for brewing, "Yamadanishiki",
regardless of its high price, investing in plants and equipments
in anticipation of 10 or 20 years ahead, and bringing up experts
to succeed the special technique for brewing genuine SAKE, are those.
Once we thought the Yamadanishiki best, we did not hesitate to make
long and every effort to get it which they would like to offer none
but NADA brewers. In due course, now we have enough Yamadanishiki
to brew our KIKUHIME. We do not care to use any measure to achieve
our purpose, of course in its good sense. How much effort requested,
the genuine elaborated SAKE, "Ginjoushu", should be entirely
hand-made and the warm-barrel should be used for the yeast incubation
mash, "Shubo", to bring out the mellowest and richest
taste from it.
KIKUHIME has the rich line up from the genuine elaborated SAKE to
the SAKE of economy type. From HIME, which is of the most reasonable
price to the limited bottle of KUKURIHIME, the most luxurious and
elaborated, that costs fifty thousand yen, the spirit of KIKUHIME
is filled up in all of our products.
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