Gorobei: The very finest Koshihikari rice

If you ask people about the best Koshihikari rice, their first thought is usually the Uonuma region of Niigata Prefecture. But it has a competitor - Gorobei rice from Saku City. Gorobei rice is Koshihikari rice grown with water from the Gorobei irrigation system, set up 370 years ago in the Edo period when developer Ichikawa Gorobei Sanechika used his own funds to start building irrigation channels around the village of Asashina in northern Saku in to create rice fields. Supplied by Mt Tateshina, the water in the channels became known as “Gorobei water”. The rice grown with that water was similarly called “Gorobei rice” and was renowned for its flavor.
Kazunori Maruyama of Farm Nakatsuru grows Koshihikari in this famous Gorobei area and also, inspired by his predecessor's love of sake, sake rice. The previous owner developed their cultivation style through trial and error, but the changing weather year to year means the rice seedlings are also different. Farmers can adjust the amount of fertilizer they use based on the condition of the seedlings, but that gives just one data point so Kazunori decided to analyze the soil as well and use that data to tailor the way he grew the crops to the prevalent weather.

Sake rice varieties are notoriously hard to grow, with tall stalks vulnerable to toppling over. Kazunori managed to grow sake rice despite its drawbacks, but growing Koshihikari at the same time made things complicated. Temperature is a vital factor when growing rice. The accumulated temperature during the growing season, in other words the total of the temperature on each day of growth, is of course different every year. Sake rice is usually ready before Koshihikari, but it’s hard to predict the right timing and organize harvesting. And the situation becomes very difficult if both Koshihikari and the sake rice need to be harvested at the same time.
t’s also important to keep table rice such as Koshihikari separate from sake rice, so growing both requires separate machinery from the combine at harvest to the dryer used to prepare the rice for storage, and even separate versions of the sieves used to evaluate the grains. Everything had to be carefully managed from beginning to end.
ut the hardships of growing in the Gorobei region are rewarded by high quality rice. The topsoil is supported by an old layer of heavy bluish clay, which was once used to make roof tiles and ceramics. Kazunori notes that Koshihikari rice grown in Gorobei soil has far more flavor than when grown elsewhere. He hasn't tried growing sake rice anywhere else so he can't make the same comparison, but he’s certain that sake rice also grows well in Gorobei soil. The data he has accumulated on the soil and rice since he started growing sake rice allows Kazunori to improve the quality of his crop year after year, and be confident in his growing methods.

Growing the finest rice

“Of course the rice from my fields is given the top grade,” Kazunori says with pride, referring to the post-harvest evaluation used to evaluate quality. “I couldn’t imagine anything else.” Kazunori doesn’t just run the business, he's often found working in the rice fields as well. “Our produce is born in the fields, and that’s how we make a living. So of course you have to pay close attention to the basics,” Kazunori explains. He checks on the plants daily, and listens to the people working in the fields.
Tsuchiya Brewing in Nagomi, Saku City have relied on Kazunori to supply the sake rice varieties Hitogokochi and Kinmon Nishiki, grown without agrochemicals, since 2000. It’s rare for a sake rice get the top grade, and unprecedented to grow rice of that quality with no chemicals. However, the plants were affected by disease in 2002 and only placed in the second grade. Once disease strikes it can persist in the soil, and return the following year. If that happens the quality of the rice may fall below even the lowest grade, yield will drop and there won’t be enough rice to make sake. Faced with that risk, Kazunori went back to using agrochemicals to ensure he could produce enough rice of the required quality, but he may try again to grow a top grade crop with no chemical assistance.
And Satoshi Tsuchiya, sixth generation owner of Tsuchiya Brewing, was so taken by Kazunori’s careful cultivation and high quality that he plans to ask him for more from next year – because their entire Akanesasu range is made from Gorobei rice. “Originally, I thought it was better to grow Koshihikari. But I was touched by Satoshi's passion. If he wants to do it then I want to support him, I want to carry on,” Kazunori affirms. You can feel the trust and ambition that link the two men.

Carrying hopes for the future: The Akanesasu range

Agriculture is haunted by two interwoven crises: an ageing workforce and a lack of new entrants. Farm Nakatsuru's response is to proactively accept trainees and recruit part-time workers during their peak season. Some find the work fascinating and plan to return, while others struggle and quit almost immediately. The farm would like to involve more of the older children and young adults who will soon enter the workforce, but there seemed to be no easy way to engage them.
Kazunori therefore teamed up with others in the area facing the same problems. It’s not uncommon for adjacent rice fields to have different owners, and normally people wouldn't go into someone else's field. But when there isn't enough manpower and the same work needs to be done in many fields, it's logical to combine their efforts for efficiency. Sharing information and encouraging fair and proper management of rice fields also helps to advance the entire area. These efforts show how important the Gorobei area is, and the vital lifeline that the irrigation system provides.

“We only have what we do now because the people who came before us protected it at all costs. I want to carry on that legacy, as we look forward at the next 10, 20 years,” Kazunori pledges, committed to protecting Gorobei water and the land it supplies. Tsuchiya Brewing then make sake using only Hitogokochi and Kinmon Nishiki rice grown in the Gorobei area. Their Akanesasu Nouveau junmai ginjo is the first to be ready, unfiltered and unpasteurized, young and grassy and full of freshness. The Akanesasu junmai ginjo combines layers of clear sweetness and umami, while the Akanesasu junmai daiginjo is smooth with an elegant and sweet finish. The entire Akanesasu range is made with sake rice grown in the Gorobei area, and are inextricably linked to its high quality, terroir and history. It may be no exaggeration to say that like Kazunori himself, Akanesasu is keeping the Gorobei area alive. And thanks to Kazunori and Tsuchiya Brewing's passionate endeavors, its future looks a little brighter.

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