The wind in the hilly rice fields

The hamlet of Sakida perches on a 50 m high hill near Yachiho Station on the JR Koumi Line. Rising steeply into a hairpin bend, the local road leading from the station to Sakida is lined with weeping cherry trees and ancient Japanese cedars, the damp air breathlessly still. If you give in to temptation and follow the road, you’ll discover a viewing point where scenery unfolds all the way from Mt Asama across to the Yasugatake peaks, making you feel like you've left the ground and been carried away by the wind.

A sign at the side of the road marks where stone and earthenware remains were found at Sakidahara, named a site of cultural importance by the town of Sakuho. Cradled by mountains and safe from flooding thanks to its distance from the Chikuma River, you can see how the area would have attracted settlers in the distant past. Look around and you will spot a 200 m tall TV tower, which stands at the site of the southern fortifications of Ari Castle, built to consolidate the area of other castles to the west and to the north in the foothills of the mountains. Ari Castle was ruled by Tangokami Komiyama, a legendary native of Saku who later moved to the province of Kai where he is said to have served the famous feudal warlord Shingen Takeda. The details are lost to history, but you can feel the area's long history among the castle ruins and other remains.
Spreading out alongside those ruins are the rice fields of Kurosawa Sake Brewery. If you come at the right time of year you can see rice plants growing strong and healthy in neat lines just like those of professional farmers, testament to the brewery's many years of experience.

Farming in harmony with nature

Founded in 1858, Kurosawa Sake Brewery diversified its operations during the Meiji Era, branching out into banking, making miso and soy sauce, trading fabrics and selling medicines, all under the trade name Maruto. The name comes from the word “maru” representing the circle of the sun, and “to” signifying rising, a combination also used in the names given to their sake. The brewery is currently run by brothers Takao Kurosawa as 6th generation company president, and Yohei as master brewer. For generations, the family has partnered with local farmers to ensure that all the rice they need is produced under contract in Nagano Prefecture.
Their founding vision was to produce sake strongly rooted in the local community, and it was in pursuit of that aim that they started growing sake rice here in 2005. They needed a lot of help in their first year, particularly as they had no agricultural machinery. They used a hand-driven rice planter and took their time transplanting rice seedlings into the fields. The experience of growing their own rice made the brothers even more committed to making sake that is a true product of its surroundings, and their fields expanded year by year.

They also grow white gourds and myoga (Japanese ginger) on their own farm nearby. Both are grown to be pickled with sake lees, the solids remaining after the liquid sake is pressed. The thick, crisp gourds and fragrant myoga are a perfect match for the flavorful sake lees, and the pickles are best-sellers among those in the know. The brewery makes not only sake but also liqueurs and shochu. They grow their own soba to ferment and distill, as well as the ume plums and other fruit for their liqueurs.
Building up experience in farming whetted their appetite for growing their own rice, and the company employees now work together to both grow it and make it into sake. They sake rice variety they chose is Hitogokochi, which was developed in Nagano Prefecture and is perfectly suited to its climate – the plants are hardy and strong, and ready to harvest early in the season. The area has limited water supplies, but there is enough clear water from the Chichibu spring for growing the rice. Pale green at the start of the summer just after planting, the plants turn a darker green in midsummer as their tiny flowers bloom and are reflected in the flooded field, then the heads finally turn golden yellow in the fall.
The harvested rice is dried, polished and taken to the brewery to start making sake. Kurosawa Sake Brewery also have their own rice polishing machines, so they are handling rice all year in one way or another: growing, polishing, turning it into sake. This reflects their commitment to making sake as an agricultural product.

Kurosawa kimoto junmai Hozumi, made from Hitogokochi rice

The Kurosawa brothers take the Hitogokochi rice grown in their fields and use it to make the sake Kurosawa kimoto junmai Hozumi. Kimoto is a type of sake starter, where lactic acid-producing bacteria naturally present in the brewery colonize the starter ferment and produce the acidity needed to protect it from contamination. The process takes time, but is worth it to showcase the brewery's individual character and skill.
And Kurosawa kimoto junmai Hozumi is not only made by the kimoto method, but also brewed with ambient yeast. Sake is normally made by breaking down the carbohydrate in the rice into sugar, then adding yeast that ferments that sugar into alcohol. However, the Kurosawa brewers wait for ambient yeast to drift down and start fermenting, cloaking the process in an air of mystery. The resulting sake has sweet aromas and a pleasant rounded mouthfeel, with flavors permeated by full yet gentle acidity that persists into a long finish. A perfect taste of Kurosawa Sake Brewery's commitment to growing and processing their own rice and turning it into sake.

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