The 'Kame-no-o' Rice Ball that Inspired 'Natsuko no Sake'

[764th Rice Ball] Hasegawa Saketen (Tokyo Station) Kame-no-o Kelp

It seems that rice also has a family tree.

Brand varieties that you all eat often, such as Koshihikari, Hitomebore, Akitakomachi, and Sasanishiki.

If you trace the origins of these varieties back like a family tree, you arrive at a single variety called 'Kame-no-o'.

Since an easy-to-understand family tree is posted on the Sakata City, Yamagata Prefecture website, I borrowed it for a moment.

There are various varieties of rice considered delicious today, such as 'Sasanishiki', 'Koshihikari', 'Akitakomachi', 'Hitomebore', and 'Haenuki'. These are the varieties enclosed in yellow.
If you trace the lineage of these varieties, you can see that their ancestors lead to the varieties 'Kame-no-o' and 'Morita Wase'.

This variety called Kame-no-o.
It is actually called a phantom rice, and it became famous for the story of how it served as the model for the rice variety 'Ryūnishiki' in the manga 'Natsuko no Sake', and how a 100-year-old rice was spectacularly revived in modern times as a sake rice.

Kame-no-o was discovered and cultivated in the mid-Meiji period by Abe Kameji, a progressive farmer in the Shonai region.

As an 'unparalleled masterpiece variety', it boasted a large planting area before the war, but it gradually disappeared because it was weak against pests and diseases and prone to lodging.

At that time, the 6th generation head of Kusumi Shuzo, Mr. Kichi Kusumi, heard from an elder of the Echigo Toji (master brewers) that 'I cannot forget the ginjo sake made with Kame-no-o.' Driven by the desire to 'definitely brew sake with that rice!', the 6th generation head began searching for Kame-no-o seed rice.

Although it was in the midst of a local sake boom, he must have felt he had to do something for the future of Japanese sake. In 1980, after much hardship, he obtained only 10 ears of rice, about 1,500 grains of seed rice.

Based on these precious seeds, he worked hand-in-hand with a brewery worker who was also a farmer to revive it over three years, and the Junmai Daiginjo 'Kame no O' using 'Kame-no-o' was born. It was the winter of 1983. The phantom rice he had dreamed of had been revived and became a highly fragrant sake.

The phantom rice, Kame-no-o.

It seems you can actually eat it as a rice ball.

And what's more, it's surprising because a liquor store inside a station in the city center is making and selling them!

Hasegawa Saketen, a liquor store located inside Gransta at Tokyo Station.
It is even equipped with facilities to produce doburoku (unrefined sake) right inside the station.

Next door, there is also a bar counter where you can drink Japanese sake.

That is where these precious rice balls made with sake rice are sold.

I finally got my hands on a Kame-no-o rice ball (kelp)!

I'm really happy to have gotten my hands on such a precious rice ball.

I'll start by reporting on the taste of the rice, which I've been curious about.

First of all, the grains are firm and large.
(Apparently, this size is suitable for ginjo sake, which is made by polishing rice.)
Since it's a 100-year-old rice variety, I thought the flavor might be weak, but that's not the case at all.
It has stickiness and a solid sweetness, making it just as delicious as modern rice!

Of course, it also goes well with kelp tsukudani.

It seems to be a difficult variety to grow because it's vulnerable to cold weather damage, but I hope it spreads as a rice for rice balls.

A rice ball made from the legendary rice that has made a great comeback.

Thank you for the meal!

Please have another rice ball made from this legendary ancient rice!

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