Kenbishi is a famous sake that was loved in the town of Edo in the olden days as a sake for those going down to the town. Its widely loved taste was created by blending. We interviewed Masataka Shirakashi, the fourth-generation head brewer, about the blending methods and reasons behind the method that has been passed down to this day.

I spoke to this person

Masataka Shirakashi, President and CEO of Kenbishi Sake Brewery Co., Ltd.

Profile

Born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1977. After graduating from Konan University's School of Business Administration, he joined Kenbishi Sake Brewery in 1990. He became the fourth-generation brewer in 2017, becoming its representative director. He is also a registered agricultural product inspector with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The taste of Kenbishi, preserved since the Edo period

Representative brands of Kenbishi Sake Brewery: Kenbishi - A soft mouthfeel with an excellent balance of spiciness and umami, which is further enhanced when served warm. Kuromatsu Kenbishi - A rich, mellow rice flavor. A full-bodied and crisp taste with a harmonious blend of umami, acidity, and spiciness. Gokujo Kuromatsu Kenbishi - A powerful umami, with an exquisite balance of sweetness and spiciness, making it an exceptionally satisfying drink. A "superb" drink.

Founded in Itami in 1505, the brewery was moved to Nada in 1929, giving the brewery a combined history of over 500 years. Kenbishi Sake Brewery has three important family mottos: "Be like a stopped clock," "Put the money our customers give us back into their mouths," and "Make our sake priced so that the average customer can afford it even if they stretch their budget a little."
The first of these, in particular, embodies the idea of ​​preserving the taste with conviction, rather than following trends, and the brewery continues to adhere to the "Kenbishi taste" that has remained unchanged since the Edo period, using the same method for blending aged undiluted sake. Despite the brewery's large scale, with three breweries - Hamagura, Nakagura, and Uozakigura - all of the essential koji making is done by hand by the brewers. They also work hard to pass on traditional techniques, having their own workshop where they make wooden sake brewing tools such as rice steaming vessels and heated barrels, as well as straw ropes for the komo barrels.

Blended to create a complex flavor that complements any dish

-What does blending mean for Kenbishi Sake Brewery's sake?

Shirakashi: "Blending is Kenbishi's lifeline. It was essentially a way to sell sake in the town of Edo. If you go back to the Edo period, our sake wasn't local sake, but rather kudari-zake (traveling sake). (Note: During the Edo period, high-quality sake from Ikeda, Itami, and Nada was transported by boat to Edo and highly acclaimed as kudari-zake). Local sake can be made to complement local cuisine, but in Edo, it's impossible to know what dishes it would go well with. So the more complex the flavor of the sake, the more dishes it will go well with. The logic is that blending is the way to add complexity. It was started as a way to achieve three things at once: stability and complexity of sake, and a wider range of pairings. Cuisine has changed in modern times, but human taste buds remain the same. Our thinking is that the theory is the same, and it still applies today."

—So the taste of Kenbishi, which has remained unchanged since the Edo period, is preserved through blending.

Shirakashi: "Currently, we have one blender and four or five checkers. If we rely on analytical testing, we end up just looking at numbers, so human senses are the best. When it comes to taste, both the blender and the checkers have their own peculiarities and characteristics, so we make decisions together, adjusting the balance. We blend from as few as four tanks and as many as ten or so."

-When blending, do you keep the final product in mind?

Shirakashi: "I rarely create new products, so it's a matter of image and concept when it comes to how to create the finished product, but I deviate just a little from perfection. That's a good starting point. If I create a perfect flavor, it doesn't pile up on the food, I want to leave a slight sense of incongruity. It's the same as how, like Lego blocks, having a small "dot" makes it more stable than stacking building blocks."

Alcohol is a toy, so you can drink it freely.

-What are your thoughts on My Sake World, a business run by our company that focuses on sake blends?

Shirakashi: "I thought it was really interesting. It's important for customers to be able to enjoy themselves and experience the experience on the spot. It's something that we in the sake industry haven't been able to do until now, and it will increase the number of fans and deepen understanding of sake. I wish we could have done that (laughs)."

-General customers often ask me, "Is it okay to blend sake?", but I tell them that blending is a technique that has been around since the Edo period. At My Sake World, we aim to create new value in sake by blending sake from different breweries.

Shirakashi: "Retailers in the Edo period have been doing the same thing for a long time (blending sake from different breweries). The selling point was the unique flavor of each store, achieved through blending. In that sense, I feel like the enjoyment of sake has been broadened, something that had previously been limited. We even released a blend with Takeizumi in 2019. We thought that the flavors would blend well after a year, but it took five years for the flavors to settle. After all, it takes time for two sakes from different backgrounds to blend well. Essentially, sake is a toy, so once it's out of our hands, people can do whatever they want with it. For example, they can dilute it with something, add water, or drink it at their preferred temperature. There are even recipes from the Edo period by Jippensha Ikku that show how to mix and drink sake in various ways. So, we're not breaking tradition at all, and we want people to have fun with it."

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Aging techniques passed down through generations

—I heard that Kenbishi's sake is left to rest and mature for several years before being served.

Shirakashi: "The reason is that in the past, everything was aged sake. We have standards for the quality of sake that must be produced for aging, but they are completely opposite to what is taught in today's textbooks. From the temperature of the koji to the temperature of the mash, to the preparation and blending, everything is outside the box. In the first six months after I joined the company, when I went to the brewing testing laboratory, an engineer told me, 'Listen, I want you to come back knowing that everything you learned was wrong.' It's amazing how our new sake doesn't taste good, but it actually gets better as it ages. Since joining the company, I've had access to a lot of information, and I've scientifically understood the significance of our techniques, which have been passed down orally for so long. I've come to understand things like how they told us to produce a certain aroma to mask something, or how they were particular about certain numbers to speed up the aging process rather than letting the sake deteriorate. It's incredibly fascinating. I've realized that our ancestors really did work backwards from their goal."

If we can contribute to society through the sake business,

—Are there any plans for the future?

Shirakashi: "The company that made thick straw ropes went out of business, and polypropylene rope was the only rope left to wrap around the straw barrels. It seemed like a bad idea to offer them to the shrine, right? So, I got a little annoyed, and decided to buy an old machine and start making them myself. I really didn't want to do it, but synthetic fibers inevitably fall apart if you display them for too long, and they release microplastics. Later, I learned that straw ropes are used in Shinto rituals to ward off evil spirits, and that the hemp rope wards off evil spirits, and the straw absorbs them. Apparently, the ritual ends with burning them in a bonfire. Even in the Gion Festival, when the floats are set up, they're tied with straw rope and then burned later because the straw rope absorbs evil spirits. So, I thought we needed to keep the straw ropes. The meaning behind it kind of came later."

—It's amazing that you even set up a workshop to make straw ropes.

Shirakashi: "So what I'm thinking about now is how we can provide added value to our customers. Serving delicious sake is a given, but in addition to that, the more you drink Kenbishi, the more you can help pass on traditional Japanese techniques, protect the environment, and preserve the religious identity of the Japanese people. I'm sure there are many customers who are interested in these things, but they don't have to donate or volunteer, they can just come and have a party (laughs). It's about revitalizing the community through our business activities. The SDGs have sustainability as their goal, but what we're aiming for is regenerative (regeneration and recovery). The ideal situation would be for activities to improve society to progress through the drinking of sake."

After the interview, I was given a tour of the Hama-gura brewery just before this year's brewing began. What took my breath away was the sheer mountain of koji lids stacked in the koji room. There were apparently about 3000 of them. Today, with the increasing mechanization of koji production, the traditional method generally uses large, efficient koji boxes. While koji lids are sometimes used in ginjo brewing, their smaller size and greater maneuverability mean they require many times more effort. I was amazed that a brewery of this scale still makes all of the koji by hand using lid koji. I was impressed by their commitment to streamlining aspects unrelated to the sake's flavor while stubbornly preserving what must be preserved. Fourth-generation owner Shirakashi explained why he decided to take over the brewery: "It wasn't the trendy flavor of the time. If I left the management to someone else, the taste of the sake could change. I thought taking responsibility myself would be an effective way to preserve the Kenbishi flavor." The unchanging deliciousness that Edo townspeople relished. The taste of Kenbishi, which goes well with any dish, is sure to be passed down for the next 100 years.

Writer/Sake Master Eriko Fujita
Expand your world to a sake specialty store in Osaka and encounter a variety of sake and sake breweries. Favorite sakes are Akishika, Ohgi, and others.
Other than drinking, my hobbies include collecting minerals and raising swallowtail butterflies.