Kuribayashi Brewery was established in 1874 at Rokug\u00f4 in the southeastern part of Akita Prefecture. The present head, Naoaki Kuribayashi, is the seventh generation. The brand name was taken from the lyrics of a Noh song titled, \u201cHagoromo,\u201d which is usually sung on auspicious occasions. It includes the following passage:<\/p>\n
Haru-kasumi<\/em> tanabikini-keri hisakata-no-tsuki-no-katsura-no-hana-ya-saku <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWhile the spring mist has settled here (on the Earth), flowers of tsuki-no-katsura [a legendary flower that was believed to exist on the Moon] must be blooming on the Moon.\u201d<\/p>\n Situated at the foot of the Ou Mountains, Rokug\u00f4 includes dozens of natural springs. It is referred to as the \u201chome of excellent spring water.\u201d The snowmelt from the mountains is filtered through rocks, and it emerges as fresh, pure spring water, which supports the brewing industry in Rokug\u00f4. The cold spring water is also one of the main tourist attractions during the summer heat.<\/p>\n Rokug\u00f4 is buried deep in snow during the winter. The highlight of Rokug\u00f4 is the Kamakura (Snow House) Festival held in February. Among the numerous events, the \u201dTakeuchi\u201d (Bamboo Pole Fight) is one of strangest in Japan because it involves two groups of townsmen who hit one another with six-meter-long bamboo poles. Since the Middle Ages, Rokug\u00f4 has prospered on the Ush\u00fb Road due to its rich rice and sak\u00e9 production. During the Edo era, there were approximately 20 breweries operating. Sak\u00e9 barrels in those days were made from bamboo, which is believed to be one of reasons why the \u201cTakeuchi\u201d started in Rokug\u00f4.<\/p>\n From the late 1970s to the 1990s, the brewery won many prizes at national and prefectural sak\u00e9 fairs under T\u00f4ji<\/em> (Head Brewer) Seiji Kameyama. The brewery used K-9 yeast extensively and introduced techniques from all over Japan. It also began researching the possibility of using homemade original yeast. After Kameyama retired in 2008 after 60 years of brewing sak\u00e9, Naoaki Kuribayashi assumed the responsibility for brewing. While continuing the brewing tradition, the brewery staff members work hard on a daily basis.<\/p>\n Kuribayashi Brewery\u2019s sak\u00e9 is characterized by Rokug\u00f4’s tender spring water, \u201cMisatonishiki\u201d sak\u00e9 rice cultivated by contracted farmers, and K-9 yeast, which brings an especially rich taste. \u201cMisatonishiki\u201d sak\u00e9 rice is an excellent hybrid of \u201cMiyamanishiki\u201d rice and \u201cYamadanishiki\u201d rice, which is only available from farmers in Akita. Since the rice name was taken from the name of the town, many farmers in Misato grow \u201cMisatonishiki\u201d sak\u00e9 rice. At Kuribayashi Brewery, the rice is used mostly for k\u00f4ji<\/em>. The flavor of its sak\u00e9, which is fully developed with Misato\u2019s water, rice, and K-9 yeast, goes well with Japanese cuisine.<\/p>\n Since 2011, the brewery has been producing sak\u00e9 with \u201cKameyama\u201d yeast extracted from old brewing facilities built during the Meiji period. The Kameyama yeast combines the features of K-9 yeast and those of modern yeasts. Sak\u00e9 production using the Kameyama yeast is increasing each year. Through the addition of new techniques and specialties of the region, Kuribayashi Brewery is improving the quality of Harukasumi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kuribayashi Brewery was established in 1874 at Rokug\u00f4 in the southeastern part of Akita Prefecture. The present head, Naoaki Kuribayashi, is the seventh generation. The brand name was taken from the lyrics of a Noh song titled, \u201cHagoromo,\u201d which is usually sung on auspicious occasions. It includes the following passage: Haru-kasumi tanabikini-keri hisakata-no-tsuki-no-katsura-no-hana-ya-saku \u201cWhile the … Continue reading Kuribayashi Brewing<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":414,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1289","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9gCtR-kN","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/history-here.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/history-here.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/history-here.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history-here.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history-here.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1289"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/history-here.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1290,"href":"https:\/\/history-here.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1289\/revisions\/1290"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history-here.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/history-here.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}