Making sake, starting from the rice

Tyler Ide, 19th generation owner of Kitsukura Sake Brewing, believes that the brewery needs to grow their own rice to increase the appeal of their sake. And they got their chance when several rice fields in Usuda belonging to Tamio Ide, the brewery's 18th generation owner, were returned after being loaned out to farmers for many years, becoming the brewery’s own fields where their staff could try to cultivate rice.

They work under the careful instruction of Akinori Ide. The fifth generation of a farming family who started off growing apples, Akinori also had a second job in auto maintenance when he was younger. He took over the family business when his father passed away, over 20 years ago, and is now a seasoned professional rice farmer. Even his experience as a mechanic is put to good use repairing agricultural machinery, including for other farmers in the area. The Kitsukura sake brewery in Usuda had long relied on Akinori to provide the rice they need for brewing, and that existing strong foundation of trust made him the perfect teacher for rice growing.

They work under the careful instruction of Akinori Ide. The fifth generation of a farming family who started off growing apples, Akinori also had a second job in auto maintenance when he was younger. He took over the family business when his father passed away, over 20 years ago, and is now a seasoned professional rice farmer. Even his experience as a mechanic is put to good use repairing agricultural machinery, including for other farmers in the area. The Kitsukura sake brewery in Usuda had long relied on Akinori to provide the rice they need for brewing, and that existing strong foundation of trust made him the perfect teacher for rice growing.

Starting small to grow their own rice

Usuda is home to the Usuda Deep Space Center, which hosts the largest parabolic antenna in Japan, and nicknamed the “city of the stars” since the facility opened in 1984. The town is filled with astrological motifs, and the streets were even renamed after well-known constellations.
Compared to the vastness of space and the lofty ambitions of the town, Kitsukura Sake Brewing's own rice fields near the brewery seem impossibly small. They started growing their own rice in 2020 here in an area locals call “behind the Rose” – next to the Rose Beauty Salon behind the brewery, where the Sumiyoshi Bridge passes over the Chikuma River near a cozy cluster of houses.
Tyler admits that transplanting seedlings by hand in such a cramped space was hard work, especially for the brewery's first attempt. Growing Kinmon Nishiki for the first time involved a lot of trial and error, even with Akinori's help.

“When you’ve been doing this for a long time, you know straight away if the soil is sand or clay. That changes the amount of fertilizer you use, and when you use it. Basically, clay soil retains fertilizer for longer but it’s harder to work. Sandy soil is easier. And when it comes to harvesting, yields from clay soils are clearly higher. I keep the local conditions in mind when advising Kitsukura on their rice fields,” Akinori comments, showing the value of his contributions as the brewery's partner in their commitment to grow their own rice. “The value of a rice field depends on your perspective, and it’s natural for everyone to have their own way of doing things. In the end, everyone thinks that the rice they grew is the best, you just get attached to it, you know? That’s enough when you’re just starting,” he adds.
Kitsukura will add the Kinmon Nishiki grown “behind the Rose” to their rice for the 2023–2024 brewing season onward. And as that affection for the rice they grew themselves grows, the brewery also makes sake with more care than ever before.

The return of Kinmon Nishiki

The sake rice variety Kinmon Nishiki was created as part of a Nagano Prefecture breeding program started in 1956, and is a cross made in 1964 between the renowned Yamada Nishiki and another variety, Tane Nishiki. But when farmers and brewers first tried using it, they found it hard to grow and difficult to polish, so it was never widely adopted.
This was a problem for farmer Hiramura Kijima, who has been growing Kinmon Nishiki in northern Shinshu since it was first registered. But he was contacted by a venerable brewery in Ishikawa Prefecture who wanted not only to buy his crop, but also to have him teach them how to grow Kinmon Nishiki themselves and cooperate to improve the quality of the rice. As a result, Kinmon Nishiki eventually made its way home to Nagano: one brewery in Iiyama started using it in 2006, and it gradually spread from there until many Nagano breweries were making sake from Kinmon Nishiki in 2016. At the end of its long and winding road to sake breweries, Kinmon Nishiki attracted new wave of attention for its breadth of flavor and aging potential. Farmers and liquor stores even convened an annual Kinmon Nishiki summit from 2014 and took action to protect the variety. This is also probably why the brewery employees, with no farming experience, decided to try growing Kinmon Nishiki in these tiny rice fields. And despite being unevenly planted, the rice grows fast and strong thanks to Akinori's advice.

Mujinzo ORO

made with Kinmon Nishiki

Kitsukura Sake Brewing in Usuda take the rice they planted by hand and raised, and complete the process by transforming it into sake. The brewery was founded in 1696, and has been making sake for almost 330 years. Its name is taken from the family's Heian Era ancestors, the Tachibana clan. Kitsukura means “sake of the Tachibana”. The brewery's long history is documented in its library, which is not restricted to sake brewing. Books and pictures on display include some by Meiji Era Japanese statesman Katsu Kaishu and industrialist Ei’ichi Shibuya, making it a treasure trove of information about Japan's recent history. Kitsukura Sake Brewing has always been more than just a sake brewery, cultivating a wider circle as friends of great thinkers, engaging with the state and promoting the local economy.

Its brands include Kikuhide, a sake with classic flavors, and Mujinzo, which embodies the nature of each season. Their low-alcohol and easy to drink sparkling junmai, Tamayura, is also extremely popular. Mujinzo was also chosen as a gift for journalists and government officials from all over the world who attended the 2016 Ise-Shima Summit. The sake is normally made with Hitogokochi rice, but as the brewery is now growing its own it has released a new variety, Mujinzo ORO, made with Kinmon Nishiki. The sake is a hiyaoroshi, a style pressed during the winter brewing season, pasteurized, then left to lightly mature over the summer before going on sale in the fall. It has just a touch of maturity with a rounded, mellow mouthfeel, alongside complex depth and flavor: a profile unique to a variety suited to aging such as Kinmon Nishiki. The brewery staff take the rice they grew from seedlings and with the utmost care turn it into Mujinzo ORO, in the hope that their appreciation for Kinmon Nishiki is communicated to the drinker.

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