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OCTOBER 10, 2000
DAIMON LECTURE AND SAKE TASTING
EVENT NAME: Tasting of Japanese Sake and Food
LOCATION: At Westin Prince Hotel, Toronto
SPONSORS: Access Japan 2000, JETRO, Sake Export Association, and Westin Prince Hotel Toronto
GUEST SPEAKER: Daimon Yasutaka, sixth-generation Japanese sake brewer and one of the directors of the Sake Export Association.
TOPIC: Features 48 premium microbrewed sakes from 16 independent producers in Japan, to be accompanied by specially selected Japanese foods. Delegates from the Sake Exporters Association, together with Daimon Yasutaka,
will provide a lecture on the history of sake in Japan, brewing techniques and answer any sake-related questions.
SPEECH OVERVIEW:
INTRODUCTION
I would like to first take the opportunity to thank everyone involved in allowing us to be
here tonight. And, on behalf of all the members of SEA, my fellow sake brewers, I would like to say that we consider it a great opportunity to be able to be here to present to you
not only our sake, which you hopefully have plenty of later, but also the　history and culture and world that surrounds sake brewing in Japan. And of course, I am also
personally happy to have this chance to speak to you. So thanks, first of all, to JETRO, the Consulate General Japan of Toronto, and to all of you for being here tonight.
HOW A TYPICAL SAKE BREWERY IS RUN
I would like to begin today by first describing how a typical sake brewery in Japan is run, and what role the toji, or head brewer, plays, as well as what role the kuramoto like
myself play. Kuramoto is a slightly vague word that refers to the president or owner of a sake brewery.
At present, there are about 1700 sake breweries in Japan. As recently as 20 years ago,
however, there were as many as 3500. The largest of 20 or so of these brew about 50,000 kiloliters a year. The remaining 98% of the "kura," or sake breweries, brew only in
the winter, and for the most part brew sake by hand. For that reason, they can only brew about 200 to 1000 kiloliters per year. There are some kura that produce even less
than that. All of the kuramoto and sake represented here today come from that kind of small-scale kura (brewery).
Sake itself is brewed from rice, which is the staple food of the Japanese people.
Except for those few large breweries with modern factories, brewing is limited to the colder months since the lower temperatures and cleaner air allow better sake to be
brewed, and also since brewing grain-based beverages like sake requires refrigeration if it is going to be kept for any length of time. This does not make large-scale brewing
feasible for most of us brewers. Also, the breweries in each region have historically brewed sake with the local people in mind, and naturally enough sake flavor profiles
developed that went well with the local climate, cuisine, customs, and way of life. This all lead to fairly distinct regional styles.
DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS OF THE KURAMOTO AND TOJI
So, sake is brewed by we kuramoto and by the toji and his or her assistants. To put it in economic terms, creating the product calls for land, finances and raw materials. The
kuramoto is responsible for procuring these, and the toji is responsible for creating the final product from the raw materials. Another way to put it would be to say that the
kuramoto functions as the financier, director of operations, and employer, and the toji functions as the employee. However, since sake is only brewed in the winter, the toji is more of a "contract employee."
However, the relationship between the kuramoto and toji is not nearly as simple as employer and employee. As director of operations, the kuramoto must decide what kind
of sake and what grade of sake, as well as how much to brew. After that, the rest is up to the toji. The kuramoto has no input about how things are run in the kura, or what
processes are used in brewing. The toji, on the other hand, knows he must live up to the expectations of the kuramoto, and does his utmost to meet those expectations. The
sake cannot of course all be brewed by the toji alone, so other sake brewing craftsmen, called kurabito, must help. The toji, therefore, is in charge of hiring and firing and
managing these other craftsmen. When the approximately five-month sake brewing season ends, the toji effectively hands over the brewed sake to the kuramoto and heads back to his family and his home.
Toji and kurabito for the most part are, in the off-season, farmers and fishermen. During the spring, summer and fall, they grow rice or work on fishing boats in their home
regions. When the fall harvest is over, or the fishing season ends, there is no longer any work in their villages. This is the season when they head off to sake breweries to work.
As the sake world within Japandeveloped, the regions from which the toji were chosen slowly gained some notoriety, and groupls or loose unions of toji came into being. There
are perhaps 20 of these groups of toji in existence now, each with somewhat different characteristic brewing styles . These regionally-based groups have been around for over 200 years.
However, it is important to note that these days, there is little difference between the brewing styles of the various groups of toji, and really no one can tell the difference on a
regular basis anyway. Each individual toji has his own style, to be sure, and that style is evident in the sake he brews. But the differences between various schools of toji is not what it was long ago.
Long ago, it was all quite secretive, and methods held and used by one group were never disclosed to other groups. But, over the past several decades, toji and brewers
from all over the country readily share information in their shared desire to make overall better sake.
A toji basically learns his skill through on the job training. There are really no texts, and
the only way to learn is by watching. Especially in the old days, no one taught anyone else by direct instruction; one was expected to watch and learn. This allowed one to
develop a very deeply embedded and strong sense about what to do in each situation. Amongst 100 toji, there will be 100 different brewing styles. There is an saying in
Japanese that expresses this, "Sakaya Banryu." However, it is interesting to note that recently this system of learning only by watching has changed somewhat in that the
government and toji unions are now directing those that want to become toji to formally study fermentation and chemistry.
There are three things that go into brewing sake: water, rice and technical skill. More
than anything else, sake is a result of a brewing process that uses rice and lots and lots of water. In fact, water comprises as much as 80% of the final product, so naturally
fine water and fine rice are a prerequisite to brewing great sake. But beyond that, the technical skill needed to pull this all off lies with the toji.
TYPICAL WORK SCHEDULE OF SAKE BREWERS
Well, just precisely what does a team of sake brewers do? Let's look at one day in the busiest brewing month at my kura, which by the way we have nicknamed "Sakahan."
The toji, along with the other brewing craftsmen, which by the way are called "kurabito," gets up about five in the morning. The first thing to be done in the morning is checking
up on state of the koji, and on the various tanks of fermenting sake mash. Koji development, by the way, is an extremely important step of the brewing process, in
which the starch in the rice is converted into sugars. Koji is created by propagating koji mold spores, called Aspergillus Oryzae in English, onto rice. To do this properly, the
koji must be mixed regularly and have the temperature checked constantly. This is the first thing done each morning. Next, they check on the status of the various tanks of
fermenting sake mash. This mash, called moromi in Japanese, is a mixture of koji, rice, water, and yeast, which combine to ferment and give alcohol. Usually this fermentation
period lasts two to three weeks, however, premium sake like what we will be tasting later today, called ginjo-shu, takes longer, usually about a month to ferment. During this
period the toji will daily check the status of each tank of moromi. This is often done by taking a chemical analysis of the moromi to determine the amount present of various
compounds. However, the toji also determines a great deal of information by looking at the foam on the surface of the moromi, how much carbon dioxide is emanating from it,
the amount and appearance of the foam, and even the sound of the foam as it churns and as the bubbles pop. The toji call this "talking to the moromi" to determine its state.
In a sense, without saying a word he "talks to the moromi" and assesses how far along it has come. It's exactly like judging how healthy a baby is by its crying. Then, based
on this information, adjustments will be made. For example, if the yeast is particularly active and the fermentation is proceeding too quickly, he may cool the tank down a bit
to slow the progress of the fermenting moromi. Just how many degrees it needs to be chilled would be a decision based on the toji's experience. Before there were any major
technological developments, sake was brewed exclusively by these kinds of methods, but even today in the age of chemical analysis and modern technology, these skills are just as important as the analysis and modern equipment.
After checking up on the moromi and koji, they have breakfast. Following that, preparations are made for the sake that will be brewed that day. This includes washing
rice, steaming large amounts of rice, cooling the rice after steaming, adding it to the correct fermenting tanks, and making koji. There are usually several types of sake being
brewed at one time, and several types of sake rice will be used. They must be very careful not to mix up the varieties of rice. Also, sake that has completed its fermentation
period and is ready will be pressed, separating the clear sake from the remaining rice solids to give what is called "genshu," or pure undiluted sake. This process can take all
day and last into the evening. After dinner, they all get a break while they wait for the late-evening's check and mixing of the koji. They all go to sleep about ten o'clock, with the same work awaiting them the next morning.
Now, in the era where science has caught up to the point where the theories and activities behind fermentation can be explained, we no longer see fermentation as
mysterious. However, we still hold a great admiration for sake brewing, since fermentation is accomplished by tiny microorganisms that we cannot see. There are,
floating around in the air, not only microorganisms that are beneficial to sake, but also those that are very detrimental to sake. Just how to balance the effects of these
organisms is something the brewers do not with their eyes, but based on their experience and intuition, and in the end create something that you and I think tastes
wonderful. It is indeed very deep and complicated work. It may seem that the brewers' work consists of mostly simple repetition, but each day they work with nature, not
against it, to seemingly control organisms they cannot see, based on what could be called "the eyes of his heart."
CHALLENGES AND FUTURE OF SAKE
Earlier I mentioned that over the last 20 years, the number of sake breweries has dropped to a half of what it was. The number of toji and experienced brewers, too, is
dropping due to things like advanced age and the lack of successors. The average age of toji is about 65. The lack of successors is a result of young people leaving smaller
farming and fishing villages since there is no entertainment, and flocking to the big cities. Although toji do indeed take great pride in their work, it is not stable and it is very
difficult, and as such they do not in general force their children to take on the same work. So we can expect the number of toji to decrease rather quickly in the future.
So, what are we kuramoto doing about this to try and remedy the situation? One thing we are trying to do is to improve work conditions and create more of a situation in which
the brewers are regular employees, not contract employees. Also, we are trying to automate all the operations that we can, like moving bottles and other items, which do
not call the "handmade touch." However, this alone is not sufficient. There are also efforts to introduce the latest technology and have computers simulate the experience
and intuition of a toji through fuzzy logic. So, even we smaller brewers are sometimes making sake both by computer and by the hands of a toji. However, unlike large brewers
, the objective of these tools is not to produce more volume, but rather to help us produce wonderful, hand-made sake.
Finally, I would like to finish by how we kuramoto, we breweries, feel about the future of
sake. As we become exposed to various other cultures, more and more people everywhere are enjoying alcoholic beverages from cultures other than their home
countries, and the atmosphere that goes with them. So naturally, Japanese people too are no longer drinking only sake. This, however, will undoubtedly add to the current
decrease in consumption of sake. However, it is generally considered that the 21st Century will be one in which people try to find satisfaction in their hearts, an era in
which people will put a lot of importance on the enjoyment of life. In this light, sake will become an important beverage that helps to enrich our lives. It is in this light that we
kuramoto here today want to make sake that adds a bit of color to life. For example, you might find that one kura's sake has a wonderful fragrance, another has a great flavor
, yet another would go with food. In the 21st Century each kura's sake will compete for individuality. And overall there will be much more variety. Finally, I just want to say that
in the future we will create many more chances for all of you to taste our sake, and at the same time to taste the new life and direction of growth for sake.
Thank you.
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