About 30 years ago, a manga serialized in a magazine became popular and was made into a TV drama, so have you heard of "Natsuko no SAKE"? The story is about Natsuko, who was born as the daughter of a sake brewer but left home to work in Tokyo. However, her brother, who took over the family business, fell ill halfway through his dream of "making the best sake in Japan." In order to carry out his brother's wish, she quickly returned to her parents' home and studied sake brewing from scratch, striving to achieve it.

Imagawa Jun, the first female Tanba Toji, was born into a family that had only one sake brewery in the area, but left home to work. When she heard the news that her family's brewery was closing down, she returned home and started from scratch, devoting herself to her training and visiting local farmers to ask them to help grow sake rice, as well as overcoming the many challenges of sake brewing and management.

During her training, she met her current husband, who was working at the National Research Institute of Alcohol, and the two of them began working towards their dream: to make the perfect sake, carefully crafted in small quantities, using traditional methods without relying on machines.

The birth of the famous sake "Rokkan" was the culmination of the efforts that the two of them had been pursuing. The name "Rokkan" is said to represent the joy of the gorgeous taste when put in the mouth in addition to the five senses that humans sense, and also represents the "joy of Mutobe", which was created using the sake rice, water, climate, and people of the local area, Mutobe.

Fukuchiyama is said to be ideal for rice cultivation due to its temperature difference, and actively adopting local sake rice contributes to the local farmers and farmland conservation. Why not visit the nature-rich Fukuchiyama and see Imagawa Jun's particular sake brewing process? You can also sample the sake, so if you like it, why not buy some as a souvenir?

This experience is available from April to September (by request), so you'll have to wait until spring, but reservations are accepted.

When foreigners first experience rice wine in Japan and it is poured into a small glass or sake cup, they mistake it for a shot and try to drink it all in one go, but that's a mistake. Sip it little by little, enjoying the aroma that spreads in your mouth and the gentle, soft taste that goes down smoothly!


Author: himiko