HOW A

HIROSHIMA
SAKEBREWER
REVIVED HER FAMILY’S BREWERY
A sake brewer in Hiroshima Prefecture, located in western Japan, is capturing
the world’s attention. Working out of a small, generations-old brewery, she hascreated new sake with global appeal. What daring challenge did she take onthat catapulted her to success? And how suited is Hiroshima’s climate toproducing this aromatic and flavorful sake?
Sake brewing season begins inlate September, during the harvestof its main ingredient: rice. Fromthen on, brewers work nonstopthrough the following May.
Producing sake involves working
with microbes, so “you have topay attention 24 hours a day,seven days a week, because you
are growing living things.” That’s
according to IMADA Miho,president and toji at Imada Sake
Brewing Co., Ltd. in the city ofHigashi-Hiroshima’s Akitsu-cho
area.
The toji, or master brewer,
leads the team of brewers and is
responsible for all of the brewing
processes and the final product.
Although Imada was born theeldest daughter of the family
that runs Imada Sake Brewing,

she initially had no intention ofbeing part of the family business.
She went to university in Tokyo,
and after graduating, stayed in thecity pursuing work in businesses
associated with culture. It was afulfilling life.
However, a turning point for
Imada came when, at 33, due toa souring economy, she lost herjob. Looking back on that time,
she said, “I didn’t want to getmarried and dedicate myself tosomeone else because I wanted
to be my own boss. When I wasconsidering how I could provide
for myself, I thought of trying myhand at the family business.”
When Imada returned to herfamily home in 1994, regulations
on sake brewing were loosening
up and new types of brews
were being developed at a rapidpace. Her father, the company’s
previous president, thought, “We
have to change our sake and theway we brew it, otherwise there isno future.” His daughter felt theIMADA Miho prepares sakefor brewing. It requires
attention 24 hours a day
because the rice’s temperature
and water content affect thesake’s flavor. The entire
process is grueling, but Imadasays she enjoys it because it
puts her in touch withnature’s beauty and there is nocorrect answer when it comesto sake brewing. MAE KOSUKE

Left: Ears of hattanso, a revived variety of rice. The rice grain’s low water absorption is among thereasons for which it has generally been considered unsuitable for brewing sake, but this is exactly why
it results in a uniquely refreshing, dry flavor. MAE KOSUKE
Right: Fukucho, Imada Sake Brewing’s signature brand, is brewed with soft water via a techniquecreated in Hiroshima. Another brand, Seafood—pronounced shiifuudo and using kanji for “sea”(shii), “wind” (fuu), “land” (do)—uses white koji mold that produces plenty of citric acid. It has alemony flavor that pairs well with Hiroshima’s famous oysters. MAE KOSUKE

same way, and became involved inproduction.
One of the company’s new sakebrewing initiatives began in theearly 2000s: reviving hattanso,
a local variety of Hiroshima
brewer’s rice, which had notbeen cultivated in over a century.
The idea was that producing
Hiroshima sake from brewer’s rice
grown in the local climate, andwhich no one else was growing,
would have high value.
However, bringing back hattanso,
which had yet to undergo selective
breeding, was quite a challenge.
Since it has long stalks withheavy ears, a typhoon could easily
knock down and ruin the crop.
It also has a low yield per stalk,making it an inefficient variety
for production. Furthermore,
originally, the rice could not be
cultivated at a constant quality, so
the brewers could not tell whether
the sake they would brew with it
would have the authentic flavor.
These were problems the brewerystruggled with for years.
So what was their reason for
persevering with the cultivationof hattanso? “Because we couldn’t
make a good product,” explained

Imada. She added, “Quitting
without having learned anything
about hattanso was not an option.”
After much time spent selecting
the right koji mold and yeast to
bring out the rice’s potential andstudying brewing management
practices, they finally produceda sake with an acceptable flavor.
That was in approximately 2014,
10 years after they had first started
growing hattanso.
With the revived hattanso
rice, the company produceda brew with the traditional
Hiroshima method of ginjo
brewing, which employs heavily
polished rice grains and brews ata low temperature. They named it
Fukucho Hattanso Junmai Ginjo.
Classified as junmai (meaning“purely rice” in Japanese) as it isbrewed without neutral spirits
and only using rice, it has a smoothmouthfeel with plenty of umami
flavor, plus a dry aftertaste. In
2017, the sake won the platinum
medal in the Junmai category
at the Kura Master sake contestin France. It then became thebrewery’s flagship product, withorders coming in from aroundthe world. When demand for sake

The Akitsu-cho area where Imada Sake Brewing Co., Ltd. islocated. It is a small port town facing the Seto Inland Sea. In the
19th century, brewers from this area established a method of
producing sake with soft water, which had until then been
considered ill-suited to the task. The pioneering spirit andtechnical skills of craftsmen who created new approaches in theface of adversity, as well as the sophisticated palates of theinhabitants of Akitsu-cho developed by the abundant naturalbounty of the local seas and mountains, have improved the flavorof the town’s sake. MAE KOSUKE

in Japan plummeted during theCOVID-19 pandemic, overseas
buyers saved the company.
Imada said, “I find it fascinatingthat sake can create connections
across the globe. I’ll keep doing
what I can so that even more
people are able to enjoy the flavorof sake produced in Hiroshima’s
climate.” The brewery’s sakecontinues to be shipped out
from Hiroshima to lands acrossthe sea, bound for connoisseurs
worldwide.

After finishing university, Imada worked in a
department store’s culture division and at anassociation that promotes Noh theater. She
started working at Imada Sake Brewing in 1994.
In 2020, the BBC selected her as one of the 100
most “inspiring and influential women” aroundthe world—the only Japanese person to make thelist. MAE KOSUKE