visiting Japanese Sake breweries

Sake brewing is one of the oldest industries in Japan. Some brewers have given up the business over the years, but some claim to be 400 or 500 years old. Nada in Kobe has the biggest number of breweries and the largest production of sake in Japan. Fushimi in Kyoto ranks second.


The photo is of the Gekkei-kan Brewery, one I haven’t visited.
I had read about the process of making sake a couple of times before but could never really imagine it. Looking round and hearing the explanation it became much clearer. Different kinds of sake were served after the tour and it was the first time I thought sake was nice. I also felt the smell of koji was kind of nice when I left the brewery.

Shotoku Brewery’s “Junmai Gensh Kimoto” got a trophy at International Sake Challenge. It was so nice and the one I’ve liked most so far.

I heard that this is the only time of year we can visit breweries to see sake making, many of them offering tours.
I heard from a friend who was born in Fushimi that the whole smelt of koji mold during the sake brewing season. As I got closer to the brewery I understood what she meant. It wasn’t unpleasant, but definitely distinctive.

The brewery I visited was Shotoku Brewery which was founded by the Kimura family in the central Kyoto 360 years ago.
The brewery staff worked at a hectic pace. I thought visitors like us might be nuisance for them -most probably we were- but they weren’t blunt and surprisingly they had friendly smiles. I was also surprised most of them were very young, I expected they would have been much older. This company has a female brewmaster,; a traditionally male profession until very recent years.

steaming rice at Shotoku Brewery
The chairman guided the tour and explained the process of making sake step by step while showing us around the brewery. It was a normal working day and all the machines made so much noise I could hardly hear what he said at the beginning of the tour which was frustrating but when we moved to quieter part of premises it got much better. The idea is to show the active brewery and we saw pretty much everywhere. If the premises were designed for visitors they might be comfortable but not authentic.


left: storage tanks at Shotoku Brewery/ right: storage tanks at Seibei Imanishi Brewery; all were set under mesh floor
Japanese sake is made from rice, water and koji mould. That’s the reason many brewing areas have an abundant supply of good underground water and Fushimi is no exception.
Especially at smaller breweries, at which many of the processes are done hand rather than machinery, sake is usually produced in the winter time because there’s less bacteria which means the brewer can control production more easily than at other seasons. The rice harvest is usually in the autumn which might be another reason. Sake is usually sold after being pasteurized, stored and matured, but we can have unpasteurized sake at this time of year. It tastes very different from regular sake, it is slightly fizzy with a fruity flavour. On the brewery tour we were served a small amount from storage to try and it was very, very good.

Samples rice in different stages of polishing: the bran and outer part of the kernel are removed from rice for making sake./ photo at Seibei Imanishi Brewery, Nara
While I visiting Nara I had the chance to join another brewery tour at Seibei Imanishi Brewery. They offer tours on the weekends during February (prior booking required). This brewery is also a small one and the chairman was the guide here too. I heard the Imanishi family used to be the priests of Kasuga Grand Shrine and made sake to offer to the gods. They started commercial brewing in 1884. Their main brand called “Harushika” (literally meaning spring deer) was derived from the deer that was the messenger of Kasuga god. Their tour is held on the brewery’s day off, and he even used a megaphone, so the explanation was very easily heard. It was very easy to understand this time because I already had the general idea from the previous tour. Tasting was the last part of the tour again! I of course, enjoyed it and have a little chat with sake lovers.

right: mash in a wooden barrel at Seibei Imanishi Brewery.
I rarely drink sake, and then usually only hot, but after this experience I’d very much like to try and find my favourite one. The chairman would be happy to hear that, I hope.

Shotoku Brewery Co. Ltd (English)
Seibei Imanishi Co. Ltd (English)

potted plum trees

It’s about 1 hour train ride from Kyoto station to Nagahama located at the northern end Lake Biwa, the biggest lake in Japan, in Shiga Prefecture. Just one hour ride takes us to snow-country... but it wasn’t when I went there.
At least I saw Mt. Ibuki covered with snow, it looked beautiful but it wasn’t close enough to make me feel that I had come to snow-country.




Every year at this time a “Bonbai-ten” (盆梅展), which literally means potted plum trees exhibition, is held in Nagahama. It is set in Keiun-kan (慶雲館) an old house which was built by a local businessman in 1887 for the visit of the Meiji Emperor.



Pine trees and stones are pleasantly laid out in the extensive gardens designed by Jihei Ogawa/ Ueji (7th), a noted gardener who also designed the garden at Heian Shrine and Murin-an. Actually this garden designated as “Special Places of Scenic Beauty” along with other works of Ueji.





This is the first time I visited a “Bonbai-ten” and the one in Nagahama is the oldest and biggest of its kind. I was expecting “bonsai”, but it wasn’t. The plum trees are massive, much taller than I am and very impressive. Some of them are 350 to 400 years old. (photo below)






Some of them are more like the image of “bonsai”.




The room is full of the fresh smell of the flowers and it is very pleasant. Although there are some plum fields in Kyoto, this is more like viewing art work than plants.

a snowy morning

We hardly ever have snow in central Kyoto nowadays, it might lie briefly a couple of times a year. I seem to remember it used to be more often when I first started living here. Global warming? It could be.
I went out to take photos when I saw the snow on the neighbour’s roof. It wasn’t enough to cover the ground, but it gave slight colour to the scenery.

I went to Nijo Castle and Shinsen-en.


At Nijo Castle only a little snow remained.


Shinsen-en is one of my favourite places, originally the Imperial Garden when Kyoto was established, but it requires imagination to envisage the place in the past. –You may get an idea at a display in Nijojo-mae underground station.


It’s a small garden with tiny a sub-temple and shrines. I personally think it’s an interesting place and pleasing to the eye in every season.

108

In the last hour of the year 2009 I visited a temple to participate in the ceremony of ringing the bell 108 times. Because of the crowds my friend and I along with the four others took our turn as groups of six were allowed to ring the bell in turn. The idea being to get rid of so-called “worldly desires” in 2009 before the start of the new year.




After that we went drinking until 5 o’clock. I’m not sure how successful I was in getting rid of “worldly desires”.


(left: a new year's ornament at Sanjusangen-do
/ right: a new year's ornament in Kyoto style)

A Happy New Year to you all.

photographs

A photograph has a certain kind of power.

My father passed away sometime ago and his photo brings back memories. After he passed away, we searched for some photos to use for his funeral. I found many pictures of him which I had never seen before. On the back of one of them was written my father’s name and 17 years old. His appearance was dramatically different and that made me think of his devotion to his work, family and friends, like many other Japanese men of his age his work was his hobby.


I found this picture in his photo pile. I think this is the area I was born, but nothing like it was even in those days.

Tenryu-ji Temple

Tenryu-ji Temple, Arashiyama, Kyoto
天龍寺（京都/嵐山）

I think Tenryu-ji Temple’s attraction is the garden.


It has been known as Tenryu-ji and belonged to the Rinzai Zen sect of Buddhism since its founding in 1345 by the first Ashikaga shogun, prior to that the land had been a temple and for a time a detached palace.The temple has a long history, however it has suffered fire many times and the present day structures are mostly built within the last 200 years.


The garden around the pond has never been affected by the fires and is said to closely resemble the original.


It was designed by a priest Muso Soseki, who also designed the garden of Saiho-ji, Koke-dera or Moss Temple. It is a strolling style garden but the path around the pond is closed to the public.


Nevertheless it still has an open-spaced cheerful atmosphere with a backdrop of mountains showing seasonal colours throughout the year.

Sagano Bamboo Grove

The image of this path is used frequently to introduce Sagano, the Arashiyama area, sometimes as a whole Kyoto or even Japan. This little path is very, very popular not only with overseas but also domestic visitors. There are countless bamboo forests all over Japan, but this is especially favoured because of its serene atmosphere. Many people come to enjoy it, so many in fact the atmosphere is far from serene. –it might be quiet very early morning.


The sound of bamboo blowing the wind is very peaceful and pleasant, indeed.