But although the number of breweries is limited to just over twenty, the smallest number among Tohoku prefectures, strangely enough it boasts the largest group of toji, master brewers, of all Japan: the well-organized Nambu toji ("Nambu" is the old name for Iwate). If you wonder how that is possible, well, people from poorer areas in northern Japan were accustomed to leave their villages and find work elsewhere. That is why you find the Nambu toji everywhere in Japan, with the highest concentration in the north and east. The Nambu style is light and crisp, technically the Nambu toji are among the best in the country. They also excel in the ginjo style. There are more than 300 Nambu toji.
Iwate breweries, though small in numbers, do win many prizes at the National Sake Competition and their ginjo style has been fortified by the development of the Iwate No. 2 Yeast. The Iwate style is like the Nambu style (naturally, as the toji guilds are the major influence on local styles), light and mild. Main brewing areas are at the same time the areas where the Nambu toji hail from, such as Shiwamachi and Ishidoriyamachi just south of the capital Morioka. In that last village, the Nambu Toji headquarters is located, and visitors can enjoy seeing the Nambu toji museum called "Nambu Toji Denshokan."
Some important breweries from Iwate are:
- Asabiraki (Asabiraki Co., Ltd., Morioka). Founded 1871. ”Asabiraki" is used in the Manyoshu for a "ship leaving port at dawn." The name was selected symbolically by Murai Genzo, a samurai of the Nanbu clan who in the early Meiji Period set out on the new endeavor of sake brewing. Largest producer in Iwate with computer-controlled new Kura (besides traditional one for handmade sake). Brewery tours possible. Sakes with an elegant and slender taste, low in acidity. Emphasis on junmai. Also experiments, such as sake with grape juice, or sake made from soy milk.
- Hamachidori (Hamachidori Co., Ltd., Kamaishi). Small brewery founded in 1923 in steel town Kamaishi. The name means "plover", fitting a company on the Rikuchu Coast. Uses the local sake rice Ginginga. Besides water from its own well, also uses water from a well in the old iron ore mine (sake made with this water is branded as Sennengo). Makes a light, clean and stylish sake.
- Nanbu Bijin (Nanbu-Bijin Co., Ltd., Ninohe). Set up in 1902 in Ninohe, in the northern part of Iwate. The name means "Beautiful woman of Nanbu" and was selected in the 1950s because the company wanted to promote the clean and beautiful taste of its sake. Brand has became known all over Japan. Typically fine and delicate Tohoku sake with a somewhat round taste. Made famous by veteran toji Yamaguchi Hajime.
- Shichifukujin (Kiku no Tsukasa Co., Ltd., Morioka & Ishidoriyamachi).
”Shichifukujin" are the Seven Deities of Good Fortune, a group that became popular in folklore in the Edo-period. The same company also makes the brand Kiku no Tsukasa (at another location). Originally set up as sake brewery in the years between 1772-78 by the Hirai family, founded as modern company in 1929. Uses local Sasanishiki rice. Light, dry and (in the case of ginjo) delicate sakes. "Daiginjo Tezukuri Shichifukujin" is a long selling sake that helped develop the market for ginjo sake in the past. - Tsuki no Wa (Tsukinowa Shuzoten, Shiwa Town). Founded 1886. "Full Moon" (named after a moon-shaped island in a local pond with historical connotations). Small brewery with lovely buildings. Uses local organic rice and Iwate No. 2 Yeast. All sake is hand work. Makes rather young and fragrant sake. Daughter of the owner now works as toji.
Regional information gleaned from Nihonshu no tekisuto (2): Sanchi no tokucho to tsukuritetachi, by Matsuzaki Haruo (Tokyo, 2003). Characterizations of individual sake based on Tastes of 1635: Shinpan Nihonshu Gaidobukku, also by Matsuzaki Haruo (Tokyo, 2000).
