Hiroshima, along with Nada in Kobe and Fushimi in Kyoto, is one of the most significant brewing regions in western Japan. However, it has only been so for a small part of sake’s long history. Until the middle of the Meiji Era about 120 years ago it was just a run-of-the-mill brewing region. What really turned things around and drew much attention to Hiroshima was the development of technology to brew sake using soft water rather than hard water.
Any conversation about the history of Hiroshima sake must begin with one Mr. Sanzaburo Miura. He was born the sixth son of a family running a general goods store in Akitsu, a small village on the shores of the Seto Inland Sea (currently part of Higashi Hiroshima City). Even though the family business was unrelated to sake, he was personally interested in brewing and started a brewery on his own. He poured much time and effort into his adopted craft, but unfortunately was not very successful in the beginning.
He did what any aspiring brewer would do; hiding his real identity, he went to Nada to work undercover in a sake brewery with the intention of learning from the inside how sake was made in the region renowned for the most advanced brewing skills and technology. He then returned to his own brewery and tried to apply what he had learned, but even then he could not brew the high quality sake to which he aspired.
What he learned from this experience, however, was that the difference between Nada and Hiroshima was in the water. Compared to the hard water of Nada, the water of the regions bordering the Seto Inland Sea, including Hiroshima, was soft. In hard water, the comparatively plentiful minerals act as nutrition to the yeast, and that helps promote vigorous fermentation. Back then, before sake brewing technology was as well developed as it is now, hard water was considered unequivocally more advantageous for brewing. The mash fermented more easily, and there was less of a chance that it would taper offer prematurely.
Conversely, it was also the conventional logic of the time that it was much more difficult to make sake with soft water. Miura realized this and actively worked to develop a reliable way to make good sake with soft water as well.
In 1898, he wrote a book called “Kaijouhou Jissenroku,” roughly translated as “A New Method of Brewing.” In it he described his development of a method of brewing sake with soft water centered on the practice of making the koji (steamed rice with enzyme-creating mold grown on it). This led to a revolution in Hiroshima Precture’s sake brewing and greatly improved its reputation.
A scant nine years later in 1907, in the very first National Sake Appraisal (one of several versions that have existed over the years, this one known as the Zenkoku Seishu Hinpyoukai), a Hiroshima sake called Seiryu took first and another Hiroshima sake called Mitani-haru took second. Both breweries are still active today. This naturally drew much attention to the sake of Hiroshima.
This tasting was conducted every other year, and a Hiroshima sake won the top award in the contest seven times between then and the 10th running in 1926, even sweeping the top three prizes twice. This naturally provided a platform for Hiroshima brewers to very clearly demonstrate to the industry their great skill and brewing prowess.
It soon became clear that soft water and the more subdued fermentation that it causes is particularly suited to the low-temperature, long-term fermentation used in ginjo brewing. Miura not only overcame the perceived handicap of soft water, he also at the same time developed the basic ginjo brewing methods. Furthermore, he helped announce to the world how good Hiroshima sake was via success in the national competitions. Hiroshima is often referred to as the birthplace of ginjo, and Miura was the driving force behind its growth.
A hundred years have since passed and it is still no exaggeration to say that Hiroshima has maintained its position as an industry leader and innovator of ginjo brewing. Hiroshima toji (master brewers) established the brewing methods of ginjo-quality sake that, combined with Yamada Nishiki rice and Yeast Number 9, created the full-flavor and highly aromatic mainstream style of sake that rules the world today.
Furthermore, in 1995, the National Research Institute of Brewing, the host of the National New Sake Tasting Competition, began the next chapter of sake history when it moved from Tokyo to the ginjo mecca, Higashi Hiroshima.
Ginjo is not the only good sake in Hiroshima. The region’s sake in general boasts prominent umami flavor and full mouth feel, and is generally characterized as rich and sweet. This style results from making proper, strong koji to counter the subdued fermentation resulting from the soft water, which is part of the brewing method developed by Miura. This mellow style of sake with its characteristic umami is also shared by the neighboring prefectures of Okayama and Yamaguchi. It all gives rise to the incredibly wonderful pairing of the region’s sake with the white-fleshed fish of the Seto Inland Sea and Hiroshima’s famous oysters.
The heart of sake brewing in Hiroshima Prefecture is the neighborhood of Saijo in the city of Higashi Hiroshima. It is affectionately called “Shuto Saijo”, the characters of which mean “sake capital” and are a homonym for the regular term for “capital city.” It sits in a valley about 200 meters above sea level and was once a lodging town along the historic Sanyoudo road to Kyoto. The winters are cold and the region is blessed with copious amounts of great water. This greatly contributed to sake brewing flourishing there. Within but a several hundred meter radius of Saijo train station, there are a handful of famous breweries including Kamotsuru, Hakubotan, Kamo Izumi and Kirei.
The attractive sakagura with boldly contrasting white walls and reddish-brown roof tiles are packed tightly together, and their red brick smokestacks emblazoned with the brand name of each brewery stand imposingly tall. Collectively they are a beautiful sight that is as worth seeing as the other famous sightseeing attractions that are also located in Hiroshima Prefecture: the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Miyajima and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.
Every year in October, Saijo is the site of the Sake Matsuri, a festival during which the breweries all open their doors, and an array of events are held around town. With 300 thousand people attending over two days, it is an appropriate festival for the town known as the Sake Capital.
Even though Saijo is a bed town for nearby Hiroshima City, it is also a university town with many research organizations. The most famous is Hiroshima University. The town continues to develop in this capacity, which is quite a contrast to its original sake identity. Just as the visage of the Sake Capital has visibly changed, there are those that say that the sake of Hiroshima has begun to change as well, with its more lively aromatics and younger feel, in line with the current trends in sake in Japan.
Soft water brewing and ginjo production have become very common in the sake world today. Will the famous brewing region that gave rise to all this reinvent itself and develop yet a new and different style of sake? As one century of this epic story comes to a close, the sake of Hiroshima continues to command attention.
by Haruo Matsuzaki
photography by Kentaro Masuyama
