Fushimi, Kyoto still has some beautiful places and offers a glimpse into what Fushimi must have been like before industrialization. I took my camera around the neighborhood and visited Okinaya, a small shop run by Kitagawa Honke. Okinaya sells Kitagawa’s Tomio brand sake as well as very nice rice and some other interesting goodies.

This is part 5 of our sake series.

Fushimi, Kyoto an Historic Town

Remember, Fushimi is synonymous with sake and water. Water for transportation of goods (rivers) and for making great sake (groundwater). Fushimi is also a beautiful and historic town. Many of the largest breweries still have beautiful, historic buildings. Fushimi is a great place to spend a day exploring, taking in scenes of old Japan and trying sake.

Historic Matsumoto Shuzo Sake Brewery

This brewery is the postcard image from Fushimi. The contrast of the traditional Japanese brewery architecture with the red brick (Western) smokestack and boiler room is quite compelling and speaks to it’s era, a time when Japan adopted necessary Western technology but retained it’s own character. This is on a riverbank so in the spring it is covered in verdant nanohana with yellow flowers.

Historic Matsumoto Shuzo Sake Brewery

Historic Matsumoto Shuzo Sake Brewery

Sign and entrance. Matsumoto Sake Brewery’s two famous brands are shown on the bottom of the sign, Hi-no-dezakari (日出盛) and Momo-no-shizuku (桃の滴).
Kitagawa Honke Brewery

Viewed from the riverbank. The old brewery can still be seen.

Kitagawa Honke Brewery

Viewed from the roof.

Traditional Japanese House

This house is beautifully maintained. The taller part on the right is the kura, or storehouse for the family treasures. Kyoto houses are made of wood — and burn. The kura have very thick earthen walls to withstand fire.

Old and New

A Japanese house with a bad neighbor. Japanese have yet to modernize their cities like Kyoto and retain harmony with the past.

Late Winter in Fushimi

This beautiful old house celebrates the approach of spring with flowers.

Late Winter in Fushimi

The pink blossoms are probably plum or peach.

Late Winter in Fushimi

These are probably Japanese quince and daffodils.

Late Winter in Fushimi

Camellia

Okinaya (おきな屋): Sake, Shochu, Rice and Other Goodies

Okinaya sells Kitagawa Honke Tomio brand sake, Hannari brand shochu and umeshu and some new and interesting creations. There is habanero shochu, shoyu and hard candies. Japanese food is not spicy hot but recently habanero peppers are being grown in one of the agricultural districts of Kyoto prefecture. Kitagawa Honke teamed up with some of the farmers out there to make these three products. One my favorite winter delicacies is sake kasu, this is the lees leftover after pressing. Sake kasu is used for all kinds of things; from soup stock to marinade for grilled fish to flavorings for wagashi. It is also enjoyed as amazake (甘酒), or sweet sake. Sake kasu is dissolved in hot water and grated ginger is added. It has little alcohol content and even children drink it at New Year’s.

Sake breweries ought to know all about rice, so this the place to get some great rice. Purchasing is quite fun because there are 8 wooden barrels full of brown rice. The customer selects the rice (by breed and region) and specifies the amount to be purchased. The clerk weighs out the rice and then mills it, making it white rice! Now that is fresh!

Many of Kitagawa Honke’s sake can be sampled at Okinaya.

Neighborhood Sign

Several of these handwritten signs on the walls and fences of the brewery tell the neighborhood about the latest sake available at Okinaya.

Okinaya Storefront

The storefront, facing Otesuji-dori Street.

Okinaya and the River

Okinaya and the river

Sake Kasu

A shot from the production process.

Okinaya Interior

In the foreground are the wooden barrels with brown rice. In the background sake and shochu can be seen.

Okinaya Rice Milling Machine

This is where the rice is milled.

Okinaya Rice Packaging

After the rice is milled it is packaged.

English:
English website: none
Service/Staff: friendly (no English)
Location and Access: Okinaya can be accessed from the Keihan Railway Keihan Honsen Line which is about 10 minutes from the center of Kyoto (Sanjo/Shijo). Just get off at Fushimi Momoyama Station and walk west through the shopping arcade. Walk a for more minutes after exiting the shopping arcade. Okinaya will be on the left side, if you cross the river, you have gone too far.
Address: 612-8369 Kyoto-shi Fushimi-ku Murakami-cho 370-6 (京都市伏見区村上町370-6)
Telephone: 075-601-0783
Near Sightseeing Spot: Fushimi Inari Shrine, Fushimi-Momoyama Castle, Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum, Jyukkokubune/Sanjukkokubune (boat tours of Fushimi canals).
Map:

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Sake Series:
Learning to Make Sake: Part 1
Learning to Make Sake: Part 2
Learning to Make Sake: Part 3
Learning to Make Sake: Part 4
Learning to Make Sake: Part 5

I went back to the Kitagawa Honke sake brewery to check-up on the progress of lot no. 18.

This is part 3 of our sake series.

While I was visiting the brewery I was able to see the difference between mash that was just started (no. 20) and mash that was almost done (no. 18) fermenting. I also got to see the pasteurization process for premium, handcrafted sake. I peeked in on the koji production room and got to see 1000 liters of fine sake pumped into a tank for aging.

lot no. 18 Daiginjo

This is posted on the vat, it says the kind of sake that it will be (Daiginjo) and the kind of rice used (Yamada-nishiki). The other notes are; tank no.52, production lot no. 18, 1 ton of rice.

lot no. 18 Daiginjo – inside the vat

Now just a dense froth. The fragrance inside the tank is sweet, pungent and fruity – but lethal. The vat is filled with carbon monoxide, produced naturally from the fermentation. I put my head inside and inhaled deeply. I felt like I have been punched — hard! It took my breath away. (Kiddies, DON’T try this!)

lot no. 20 Daiginjo

lot no. 20 is the same kind of sake, daiginjo made with the same yamada-nishiki rice. Tank no. 53, production lot no. 20, 1 ton of rice.

lot no. 20 Daiginjo – inside the vat

As no. 20 just started a few days ago, it still looks like liquid. The bubbles are naturally produced by the fermentation.

A Bucket of Ice

Next to tank no. 52 is a bucket of ice. This is added to reduce the temperature. Remember, the lower the temperature the better the sake.

Pasteurization of Premium Sake
When I arrived today the kurabito crew was pasteurizing a small batch of Kitagawa Honke’s premium, handcrafted sake. Pasteurization of fine sake involves heating the bottle in a barrel of hot water for a short time and then dunking it in ice water.

Pasteurization

Notice in the foreground the bottles that have been placed in the ice water. These are done.

Pasteurization

The kurabito on the left is holding a thermometer to measure the temperature of the water. The kurabito in the center is holding a thermometer the measures the temperature inside the bottle.

Pasteurization

After reaching the necessary temperature, the bottles are gently turned upside down, back and forth several times to ensure complete pasteurization.

Pasteurization

The final step it to chill the sake. This premium sake is pasteurized in lots of about 1 dozen 1.8 liter bottles.

Koji Production
This is the one warm room in the entire brewery! Koji needs warmth to grow. Remember, the most important ingredient in the sake production process is koji, so great care is expended in it’s production. After the koji is produced, it is added to the vat with to feed the fermentation process.

Koji Production – cleaning the incubator

Here one of the kurabito is cleaning out the koji incubator. Any koji that remains must be blasted out with pressurized air before the next lot is produced. Notice the kurabito is wearing just a t-shirt. It is very warm here, the rest of the brewery is just above freezing!

Koji Production – the end of the line

Some koji that spilled on the floor at the end of the conveyor belt.

Koji

I scooped up koji for a close-up photo. It is soft, powdery white growing on the steamed sake rice. It tastes quite sweet.

Koji

Here the kurabito is having a look at the koji as it is being moved in trolleys to the fermentation tank.

Aging Sake
Here the sake is being moved from the vat after pressing to the aging tank where it will age for 6 months to a year. This is for larger volume production and is not 100% handcrafted, but very good stuff, never-the-less!

Aging Sake

The machinery on the left will heat the sake and pump it up the the second floor where it will be put in a tank to age.

Aging Sake

Tashima Toji (Brewmaster Tashima) inspecting the settings and getting ready to start.

Aging Sake

The vat on the right contains the sake that will be pumped up to the floor above for storage.

Aging Sake

A shot inside the vat. Sake is actually slightly golden in color.

Aging Sake

A testament to the cold, I used some boiling hot water coming out of a pipe to warm my feet inside my kurabito rubber boots. It got real warm, real quick!

Aging Sake

This is the hose that transports the sake up from the floor below. This was truly an amazing sight! (see next photo)

Aging Sake

At the end, the sake becomes water as water is used to push the last of the sake through the hose. The kurabito frantically dips his finger into the sake stream, tasting it as quickly as possible. Just as it starts to taste a little watery, he pulls the hose out of the tank, blasting a few hundred liters of water all over the place (and probably more than a little fine sake too!). Quite a sight!

Aging Sake

Taking a sample for the lab. A bottle is dunked and filled to be taken downstairs to the lab.

Aging Sake

While shooting a couple shots up here, in just a minute or so I got quite a sake buzz! Why? This sake is hot, the vapors are intense and quickly intoxicate. I remember thinking that I was in a sake steam room! Completely different than sake served hot. It was quite wonderful!

Aging Sake

Capping the bottle for the lab.

Aging Sake – sealing the tank

Rice starch glue is being painted on paper that will be used to seal the tank.

Aging Sake

Sealing the cover.

Aging Sake

Final step, clamping down the cover. Now wait 6 months to a year!

The Brewery
I snapped a few shots of the brewery.

The Brewery

This is a shot from the roof of the new wing of the brewery over looking the old (tile roofs).

The Brewery

The old brewery with the roof of the new wing in the background.

The Brewery

This is what ‘old Fushimi’ looked like.
Sake Series:
Learning to Make Sake: Part 1
Learning to Make Sake: Part 2
Learning to Make Sake: Part 3
Learning to Make Sake: Part 4
Learning to Make Sake: Part 5

This morning I awoke at 5am, opened the window and looked out at Kitayama, the North Mountains of Kyoto to see everything covered in heavy, wet snow.

At 7am, amid heavy snowflakes, I was met by Yukihiro Kitagawa, outside his sake brewery, Kitagawa Honke, the maker of the premium sake brand, Tomio. Mr Kitagawa is the 14th president of Kitagawa Honke.

In part 2 of our sake series, we examine the following:

• The history of Fushimi, Kyoto.
• The water of Fushimi and the two tastes of Japanese sake.
• The social and organizational relationships within the sake brewery.

Whiteboard Notes

Fushimi water hardness (softness), minerals and saccharification. Again, saccharification is the process of converting starch into sugars. Minerals in the water influence the fermentation process.

Fushimi History
Fushimi is synonymous with sake in Japan and Kitagawa Honke is located here. Fushimi was once it’s own city but is now a ward of Kyoto.

Fushimi is one of several bakufu-machi (幕府街), literally, military government city, in Japan. Kyoto was the seat of the throne, but the emperor was often not consequential as a leader. The real power resided with the bakufu, the military and political leaders that comprised the samurai class.

After the Warring States period, Fushimi was built as seat of the bakufu.

Fushimi is a very interesting town. It was once the fifth largest city in Japan. It was the ‘port’ of landlocked Kyoto. Fushimi is criss-crossed by navigable rivers, which run down from Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, through Fushimi and lead to the merchant town of Osaka and the sea. Much commerce was conducted between Kyoto and Osaka by river.

Fushimi is a delightful town, with many historic places to visit. For example Fushimi Castle and Fushimi Inari Shrine. Fushimi is about 10 minutes by train from the center of Kyoto.

Fushimi Water
Fushimi is blessed with springs that produce water of unusual softness. The original meaning of Fushimi appears to mean ‘hidden water’ (伏水), spring water. It is said that in 1594 water began vigorously bubbling up from the ground and sake breweries began to spring up and the town began to develop and prosper.

The rivers of Fushimi have nothing to do with the taste of the sake, they provided the transportation of it to the rest of Japan, via Osaka.

The Taste: Feminine Sake vs. Masculine Sake
Even today, Fushimi is the second largest producer of sake in Japan. The largest is Nada, in Kobe. Nada-zake is considered to be masculine in taste, Nada’s water is hard. Fushimi-zake is considered to be feminine in taste, Fushimi’s water is soft. Brewing style and tradition are surely part of the taste of the final product, but mineral content in the water creates unique characteristics in the fermentation process. And the fermentation process makes the taste.

Relationships: Kuramoto – Toji – Kurabito
As with all else in Japan, human relationships are very important to getting anything done, including making great sake!

Kuramoto (蔵元): brewery owner
Toji (杜氏): master sake brewer
Kurabito (蔵人): brewery workers

The kuramoto (president/owner) of the brewery oversees all aspects of the business.

The toji, master brewer, oversees all aspects of the sake production and hiring and managing the brewery workers. The position of toji and his relationship with the president/owner is very interesting. Every year, they decide what kind of sake that they will make and how much. From there, the toji is completely entrusted with the production of the year’s sake. A bit different than the modern CEO – department head relationship.

Currently there are three main ‘schools’, or ryuha of toji.

The meaning of toji is quite interesting. ‘To’ is said to be family name of the Chinese man that invented the process of brewing alcohol from rice. ‘Ji’ is the most polite form of ‘Mr.’ in Japanese. So, ‘Mr. To’ in honor of the man that started it all. The position of toji is highly respected in Japanese society, similar to the ‘celebrity chef’ phenomenon in Western countries, only with centuries more history.

Under the toji are the kurabito literally ‘brewery person’, a person working in the brewery. These people wash the rice, steam it, ferment it and bottle the sake. This is very hard work, manual labor. More than that, it is cold and wet work. The colder the air temperature, the better the sake that can be made. Water is used everywhere in the production process.

It is quite interesting to note that in many traditional industries here in Kyoto, it is very difficult for the owners to find young people that want to work in, say, a weaving or dying factory, but sake breweries have no trouble recruiting young, hardworking people excited about making great sake.

Traditionally, the sake brewery was the domain of men, but here at Kitagawa Honke there are two women on the kurabito crew. There are even female toji now.

Here are some (more) photos I took of various stages of the production of ‘no.18′.

Rice Milling

This shows the rice, from left to right, in it’s natural state as brown rice and milled down to 70%, 60% and 50%. The more it is milled the higher the quality sake that can be produced.

Rice Milling

Old and New: Instruments and Shinto ‘Paper Amulets’
The ‘paper amulets’ are from Matsuo Shrine in the Western Hills of Kyoto. In Matsuo Shrine is the God of Sake. These o-mamori (御守) are everywhere in the brewery, even attached to the most sophisticated instruments!

Production Lot No. 18. 1/26

This instrument measures, regulates and records the temperature in the vat.

In the Lab: Kiki-zake (利き酒・聞き酒) Evaluating the Sake

The toji took me down to the lab to taste some of the brews that he is most proud of. These three sakes were absolutely out of sight! How do you get such a complex and fruity taste out of rice? I do not know!

Of course you are supposed to spit out the sake, and I did spit out most of what I tasted. But the taste is different and fuller when swallowed. I ended up completely smashed, by 11:30 am!

In the Lab: Three Sakes
The Toji invited me down to the lab to try these three sakes of which he is particularly proud.

In the Lab: Tarekuchi Sake

This sake, Tarekuchi was exquisite, complex and fruity.

In the Lab

In the Lab

Here is a sneak peek of ‘Learning to Make Sake’ – part 3:

Fermentation process inside the vat, comparing lots 18 and 20.

Sake Series:
Learning to Make Sake: Part 1
Learning to Make Sake: Part 2
Learning to Make Sake: Part 3
Learning to Make Sake: Part 4
Learning to Make Sake: Part 5