About the Legendary Sake "YANAGI" Part 1: The Origins of Aichi Prefecture's Fermentation Culture

If you have read my previous articles,
What kind of sake is in my neighborhood?
Why is this sake being made?
I think you have been able to develop your own feelings about various types of sake,
such as these.

Now, I would like to touch upon why I created "YANAGI," which is based on the legendary sake known as Yanagi-kage.
I would like to delve into that here.

Also, I have used AI to generate images to reinforce the concepts.
There are still some points that might be worth questioning, but please view them strictly as visual aids.

What is your image of Aichi Prefecture?

Before I talk about the legendary sake, there is something I would like you to know.
I currently live in Aichi Prefecture, but
what kind of image do you have of Aichi Prefecture in the first place?
Toyota Motor Corporation is there!
More of an industrial image than a tourist one
A unique food culture like Nagoya-meshi
(Though Misen, Komeda, and CoCo Ichibanya have already expanded to Tokyo...)
Nagoya Castle, Ghibli Park, Legoland... that's about it
I don't know anything else...
...
Well, I think that is mostly accurate.
Perhaps even those who live here have that same image.

Actually, Aichi is a land that has nurtured a rare and excellent fermentation culture in Japan!

"Hmm? Ah, red miso and everything tastes like miso, right?"
That is certainly true, but actually, that is not all there is to it.

In fact, Aichi Prefecture has a wide variety of manufacturers of sake, miso, soy sauce, mirin, and vinegar, and many famous manufacturers exist here.
For sake, recently there is "Kamoshibito Kuheiji",
for miso, there is bean miso (Hatcho miso),
and for soy sauce, there is a rich variety, with tamari soy sauce and white soy sauce (tamari) being quite rare.
For mirin, there are many types of authentic mirin such as Kokonoe Mirin and Mikawa Mirin,
and for vinegar, there is the nationally famous Mizkan.
I researched and visited various places,
and I was quite surprised at how many there were.
And what is interesting is their location.
There are few in urban areas like Nagoya City,
and these manufacturers are concentrated near rivers or on the Chita Peninsula.
Even so, why is fermentation so popular in Aichi Prefecture?
And why in those specific locations?

The story goes back to the Edo period.

When Tokugawa Ieyasu was establishing the Edo Shogunate,
it became a massive project with a plan to suddenly build a large city in an empty wetland.
Therefore, manpower was gathered from all over the country to build the city.
Workers like carpenters worked hard, sweating and toiling during the day.

When work was finished, since many were single, they would eat sushi at a food stall before going home,
drink sake, and then go home to sleep.
Where did this sake come from?
Of course, the city being built from scratch did not have an abundance of sake or food ingredients.
Ingredients were being brought in from all over the country.
As one route, sake was transported by ship from Nada (Hyogo Prefecture) to Edo.
Because the distance was long, they would take breaks along the way,
and that stopover point was the Chita Peninsula in Aichi Prefecture.

From the perspective of the Owari Domain, it was like money passing right in front of them.
Wanting to benefit from this as well, they made arrangements with the Shogunate, and it was decided that sake would also be shipped from Aichi Prefecture.
In no time, nearly 200 sake manufacturers were established, and they were shipping sake toward Edo.

Massive generation of industrial waste!

When making sake, sake lees are produced.
Normally, if you are only making sake for the local area, the amount of sake lees is small, so it could be consumed.
However, because it was being made for external shipment, a massive amount of sake lees that could not be consumed was generated.

At this time, sake lees were further aged and distilled to create kasutori shochu.
This kasutori shochu was used to make vinegar and mirin.
Normally, vinegar was made by producing sake and then converting it into vinegar.
Vinegar made from kasutori shochu had a unique color (golden yellow) and flavor, and when it was used for sushi rice, it became a hit.
Vinegar made from what was originally waste material sold well, and the company that grew large through various circumstances is Mizkan.
※I learned this at the Mizkan Museum.

Sake brewing barrels are sold as used items after being used for a certain period.
These were purchased, and soy sauce and miso were made in those barrels.

In this way, many vinegar, mirin, miso, and soy sauce manufacturers were established in Aichi Prefecture, centered around sake makers.
Why is this company in this location, and why are they making this product?
If you trace the history of the companies near you, there must be some reason for it.
It's interesting to explore things like this, isn't it?

But even people in Aichi Prefecture don't realize this.

Actually, even people in Aichi Prefecture know almost nothing about this story.
I also researched it this time, learned the facts, and
"Why is the nationwide company Mizkan located in Handa on the Chita Peninsula?"
That long-standing mystery was finally solved.
Mizkan built the Mizkan Museum near their company and next to the canal to convey this history.
If you make a reservation and pay the 500 yen admission fee, you can experience the history through various types of exhibits.
If you are even slightly interested in the flow of events up to this point, I recommend visiting at least once.

With such a very interesting history and local character as described above,
and the unique Nagoya cuisine created from the fermented products made there,
Aichi Prefecture has quite interesting land and culture rooted in it.
But I thought there were too few opportunities to arrive at this point.

So,
I started to think that if I could create a product that connects to this kind of story,
it would be interesting if not only people in Aichi Prefecture,
but also people all over Japan and the world became interested in it.

There is still more to come.

If you can't wait any longer, please take a look here.