When was the brewery established?
“The brewery dates from 1878 in the Meiji Period. The company was established in 1954.”

How many people are on the brewing team?
“There are three of us. Mrs. Kondō is the current tōji. I and one other person round out the team. When we’re really busy, we can get help from workers at the rice wholesaler.”

What rice do you use?
“We use three types of rice from Ehime – Matsuyama Mii, Shizuku Hime, and Himeiku No. 71. We replaced Nikomaru with the newer Himeiku. We use Yamadanishiki grown in Shikoku and Hyōgo, Ginpū produced in Hokkaidō, and Gohyakumangoku from Fukui. The reason we use so many varieties from across Japan is due to a plague of planthoppers that blew over from the Asian mainland in 2012, wrecking the sake rice crop. That year, we’d contracted for a lot of Omachi rice from Okayama, and we experienced difficulties when the crop largely failed.”

What is your water source?
“We use groundwater pumped up from 110 m below ground. This water is our strength. The quality of the water is thanks to the thousands of trees planted by Sumitomo Ringyō. It’s soft water, which allows for slow fermentation since it contains few nutrients in the form of minerals. This is good for long, low-temperature fermentation, which allows the characteristic flavours of the rice to remain.”

What yeast do you use?
“Mrs. Kondō the tōji aims to make strong kōji mould that delivers a more potent flavour. So our sake has a stronger, more distinctive taste than other breweries.”

What is the defining character of your sake?
“We want to bring out the sweetness and richness of rice. A few years ago, the word “terroir” from the wine world became trendy, and we wanted to try making sake using local water and rice.”

What was it like growing up in a sake brewery?
“My parents were too engrossed in making sake and looking after their own parents to pay much attention to me, so my playground was the brewery. In those days, one of the main tasks of brewery workers was repairing equipment. They went to the mountain to cut bamboo and made the tools from scratch. Since the brewers had left their own children at home, they were happy to indulge any child around them. So they enjoyed making me toys out of bamboo. Also when they steamed the rice for sake, the tōji would press it in his hands to test the quality, and the resulting cake of rice – hinerimochi  –  would be put on the god shelf as an offering. But the workers would make an extra one to feed me.”

What was it like reviving the sake brewery?
“I studied at Tōkyo University of Agriculture, then did a 4-year stint at Kirin, including marketing. I also studied at the National Research Institute of Brewing in Hiroshima for a year. When I asked my father when he’d start brewing again, he always changed the subject. So I decided to go it alone. I bought some rice with my own money, and when my father saw it, he was very angry. But eventually he resigned himself to the fact that I was determined to restart brewing. At that time, the company was operating as a liquor wholesaler. When I told the other workers I planned to brew again, they were not at all encouraging. “Don’t think we’ll be driving your lorry for you when you’re shirking off with your little hobby!”. So I started making sake on my own after I’d finished the day’s work. But I got some valuable help and advice from other brewers who were managing small breweries, and eventually, things got on track.”