Japan’s sake brewers hope UNESCO heritage itemizing can enhance rice wine’s enchantment

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OME, Japan (AP) — Deep in a darkish warehouse the sake sleeps, saved in rows of large tanks, every holding greater than 10,000 liters (2,640 gallons) of the Japanese rice wine that’s the product of brewing methods relationship again greater than 1,000 years.

Junichiro Ozawa, the 18th-generation head of Ozawa Brewery, based in 1702, hopes sake-brewing will win recognition as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, when the choice is made subsequent month.

“We at all times take into consideration the individuals who’re having fun with our sake after we make it. I’m now so excited, imagining the faces of all of the individuals around the globe,” he informed reporters Wednesday throughout a tour of his brewery on the pastoral outskirts of Tokyo.

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Sake, the drink of selection for the the Aristocracy in “The Story of Genji” — Japan’s most celebrated work of literature — has been widening its enchantment, boosted by the rising worldwide recognition of Japanese delicacies.

Sake exports from Japan whole greater than 41 billion yen ($265 million) a 12 months, with the most important locations being the U.S. and China, in keeping with the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Affiliation.

That’s up from about 22 billion yen in 2018. However exports nonetheless make up a tiny fraction of general sake manufacturing in Japan. Brazil, Mexico and Southeast Asia, in addition to France and the remainder of Europe, all locations the place Japanese eating places are gaining recognition, are beginning to take a liking to sake.

What’s key to sake-making, which takes about two months, together with fermentation and urgent, are the rice and the water.

For a product to be categorized Japanese sake, the rice have to be Japanese. The comparatively comfortable high quality of freshwater in Japan, just like the provides supplied by the 2 wells at Ozawa Brewery, can be vital.

Amongst Ozawa’s sake is the full-bodied fragrant Junmai Daiginjo, one of many high choices, with 15% alcohol content material and costing about 3,630 yen ($23) for a 720 milliliter bottle.

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Karakuti Nigorizake is unrefined sake, murky and never clear like traditional sake, with 17% alcohol content material and a rugged no-nonsense style. It sells for two,420 yen ($16) for a 1,800 milliliter bottle.

The spiritual connotations of sake are evident on the brewery. The massive cedar-leaves ball hanging underneath the eaves is a logo of a shrine for the god of sake-making. In Japan, sake is used to purify and to rejoice. Sips from a cup signify the sealing of a wedding.

“Sake isn’t just an alcoholic beverage. It’s Japanese tradition itself,” stated Hitoshi Utsunomiya, director of the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Affiliation.

The UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage designation is given to not simply historic monuments but in addition practices handed down generations, equivalent to oral traditions, performing arts, rituals and festivals.

It’s not meant for use for business functions. However sake officers make no secret of their hope that it’ll enhance international gross sales, serving to the custom keep alive amid competitors from beer, wine and different fashionable drinks.

Amongst earlier Intangible Cultural Heritage inclusions are Kabuki theater and Gagaku courtroom music from Japan, in addition to Sona, that are drawings on sand in Angola; the Chinese language zither known as guqin and Cremonese violin craftsmanship from Italy. Washoku, or Japanese delicacies, gained the honors in 2013.

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One cause for sake’s rising recognition around the globe is that its clean taste goes properly with styles of meals, together with sushi, spicy Asian and Western dishes, says Max Del Vita, an authorized sake sommelier and co-founder of The Sake Firm, an import and distribution retailer in Singapore.

“These brewers are cultural stewards, passing down methods by means of generations and mixing historical practices with quiet innovation,” he informed The Related Press. “Sake is greater than a drink. It’s a residing embodiment of Japan’s seasonal rhythms, group values and creative heritage.”

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Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://x.com/yurikageyama

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