KANSAI THE STORY OF SAKE

Japan’s ancient and fertile heartland has some of the oldest breweries in the country, and all o er something di erent to travellers looking to experience the world of sake. Words and photographs: Ben Weller

Kansai is Japan’s cultural and spiritual heartland, a region of crag peaks, wild forests and rolling pastures. With its clear streams, fertile soil and temperate climate, it’s also renowned across the country for its produce, and is a region ideally suited for creating nihonshu (sake). In fact, Kansai produces the most sake in Japan, and brewing began at temples and shrines across the region more than 2,000 years ago. At first, sake was gifted only to the gods, but as time went on it became synonymous with Japanese culture. Today, sake retains a central role in society.

It’s served at weddings, consumed merrily at festivals, and paired with kaiseki (traditional, multicourse meals). Visitors can also sip sake at the breweries themselves, known as sakagura, often with the toji (master brewer) at their side. There are three key elements to producing excellent sake: the finest rice, the purest water, and a wise, knowledgeable toji, and Kansai has all three in abundance. Farmers carefully cultivate varieties of goldstandard shuzo kotekimai (brewing rice) with water from mountain streams, before sending it on to the toji, all of whom adhere to strict brewing standards and traditions.

At Takeno Brewery in Kyotango, a rural area in northern Kyoto, toji Yukimachi Yoshiki is on a quest for an elusive, singular sake, a flavour he’s yet to taste — and he’s tasted many. An artisan with a mad scientist streak (he holds a degree from the Department of Brewing and Fermentation at Tokyo University of Agriculture), Yukimachi spends countless hours in the brewery — even sleeping there during brewing season. He spends his time filtering sake to isolate flavour compounds:

“Making nihonshu is a science,” Yukimachi says. “While researching one area, I’ll find a branching area of enquiry: time, light, the ricepolishing rate.

These branches are where discoveries are made.”

Centuries of innovation have contributed to a growing global appreciation for this sophisticated drink. Visitors to Kansai can experience the magic of nihonshu at the oldest sakagura in Japan There are countless varieties to try, each with their own character, and all revealing something new about Kansai.

“Visitors to Kansai can sip on sake and experience the magic of nihonshu at some of the oldest sakagura in Japan”