other conditions. Yamada Nishiki satisfies all Let’s all toast Hyogo! these requirements. -The Center of Production of and “The amino acid that originates from the Koji mold Sake-brewing -4 ensures mildness and minimum bitterness,” Shinichi Honda (aged 64), President of Honda Shoten Co., Ltd. Yamada Nishiki, King of Sake-brewing Rice (Himeji City) that produces Junmai Daiginjo under the brand name of “Kome-no-Sasayaki (whisper of High Quality, Polished or Unpolished rice)” and other sake products, stated when explaining Confronting Global Warming and Competitors the features. in Other Prefectures Yamada Nishiki produced in Hyogo Prefecture is Yamada Nishiki is the king of sake-brewing rice. very popular because it best-suits the high quality Since it was created 80 years ago in Hyogo sake of Ginjo, in which the delicate taste and flavor Prefecture, no other varieties of sake-brewing rice come from the white-core obtained from the highly that are better than Yamada Nishiki have polished rice. It is supplied to more than 500 emerged. brewing companies across the nation. There is also, however, a brewery that tries to take full advantage of all the attractive features of Yamada Nishiki. Shimomura Shuzoten (Himeji), which is known for “Okuharima,” produces Junmai from 80% polished rice that gets highly praised for its well-balanced levels of sweetness, bitterness, and sourness. Even rice eaten as a staple food is made by Rice bag stamped with “Honmamon (authentic) polishing the grains by almost 10%. Yamada Nishiki,” thus Rice grains that have been polished by 20% can indicating it is Yamada contain proteins that can lead to an unpleasant Nishiki produced in Hyogo Prefecture tasting sake, but “Yamada Nishiki inherently (Yokawa Town, Miki possesses strong taste and umami compounds, City) which ensures a well-balanced flavor, and only The enormous popularity of Yamada Nishiki at Yamada Nishiki enables us to make this attempt” sake brewing companies gets especially manifested stated Hiroaki Shimomura (aged 59), the Toji at the “Annual Sake Awards,” the most sake master and the owner of Shimomura authoritative Japanese sake contest. Surprisingly, Shuzoten. 90% of gold prize winning sake brands utilize Yamada Nishiki helps brewers, relatively Yamada Nishiki. speaking, easily produce any type of sake, ranging Yamada Nishiki will also show its presence as from freshly brewed sake to aged sake, and with rice used to make sake at the Sake Category fewer failures. And indeed in responding to the Competition of the International Wine Challenge admiration of nationwide brewers, Yamada Nishiki (IWC), which will be held for the first time in is increasingly being produced in various other Kobe on the 16th of this month. According to the prefectures than Hyogo. prefectural office, six of all “Champion Sake” The national share of Yamada Nishiki being awards at the past nine contests, including the produced in Hyogo Prefecture was about 74% in first Champion Tsurunosato produced by 2013 but had dropped to about 63% in 2015. Kikuhime Co. Ltd, utilized Yamada Nishiki However, during the same period, national produced in Hyogo Prefecture. production increased by 1.7 times. “It was grown in The main requirements of good sake-brewing 33 prefectures in 2015, and, in particular, Okayama, rice are large kernels with a starchy Fukuoka, Shiga, Yamaguchi, and Niigata prefectures “white-core” at their center; minimum protein showed big increases,” said Masaru Ikegami (aged and fat that can give sake an unfavorable flavor; 54), the Chief Researcher of the Prefectural grain plumpness and size uniformity; and some Technology Center. Production of Yamada Nishiki by Prefecture Another concern for all 2015 2013 Hyogo Prefecture commenced upon the quality Miyagi 48 26 the people involved in sake- Yamagata 4 1 improvement project of “Upgrading Hyogo’s Ibaraki 177 2 brewing rice production in Tochigi 415 13 Yamada Nishiki” in cooperation with JA in 2011. Kanagawa 94 59 Hyogo Prefecture has been Niigata 808 20 As a part of the project they changed the rice Toyama 507 249 global warming. The ratio of Ishikawa 48 30 planting season and increased the sieve mesh size Fukui 166 103 the highly-ranked rice had Yamanashi 63 5 from 2.0 mm to 2.05 mm in order to choose plumper been around 70% in past Shizuoka 565 316 grains and improve the size uniformity. “Sake Mie 267 195 years but then fell to 15% Shiga 1,335 390 brewing companies expect Hyogo’s Yamada Nishiki Kyoto 142 94 in 2010 due to the high Osaka 27 29 to have large, uniform grains. We would like to be Hyogo 24,422 17,153 temperatures experienced Nara 84 27 able to satisfy their expectations,” stated the Wakayama 77 42 in summer that year. Tottori 363 248 Agriculture and Horticulture Division of the Shimane 209 108 In order to compete with Okayama 3,174 1,544 Prefectural Government. Hiroshima 952 235 Yamada Nishiki producers Yamaguchi 1,514 393 (Kazuyoshi Tsujimoto) in other prefectures, and Tokushima 940 533 ※Head of The Kobe Shimbun Business News Desk Kagawa 25 21 also fight global warming, Ehime 25 21 Kochi 29 30 Fukuoka 1,390 867 Saga 527 207 (Unit: ton) Nagasaki 77 34 Figures for 2015 are preliminary Kumamoto 280 58 as of March 31, 2016 while those Oita 69 17 Miyazaki 28 11 for 2013 were finalized. Subtotal 38,853 23,081

神戸新聞 5月4日