Shimane sake on display

While it may not put out the volume of places like Hyogo, Kyoto, or Niigata, Shimane Prefecture is easily one of the most significant sake-producing regions in Japan, both historically and currently. Long a land of myth and legend, the sake stories and sake-associated shrines, lore and people abound in Shimane.

Sake's tight tie to Japan's indigenous religion, Shinto, is felt strongly here in Shimane, perhaps most famously at a Shinto shrine called Matsuo Jinja. Matsuo Jinja enshrines a god known as Matsuo-sama, who is the main patron god of sake brewing. It is here that the famous guild of toji (sake master brewers) known as the Izumo Toji guild occasionally gather for prayers and more, especially just before setting off for their various regional breweries where they will work through the winter. The Izumo Toji guild takes its name, as many of the toji guilds do, from the pre-Meiji (pre-1868 or so) name for the region: Shimane Prefecture was formerly known as Izumo.

Another famous shrine in the city of Hirata that houses a local manifestation of Matsuo-sama is Saka Jinja, which *may* be so named as it is sake related. Saka is an alternative reading of the character for sake; however, the characters used for "Saka" in Saka Jinja are different, kind of a hieroglyphic pun, so to speak. In any event, a big festival is held each October 13 at which "doburoku," a kind of nigori sake used in Shinto ceremonies, is offered - and consumed in copious amounts.

A particularly interesting part of the sake-related history of Shimane is the Japanese mythology story of the Yamata-no-Orochi. The Yamata-no-Orochi was a dragon with eight heads and eight tails, large enough to cover eight valleys and eight mountains. Each year, out of boredom perhaps, this dragon would come and eat one of the eight daughters of a particularly unfortunate old couple in the land of Izumo, present-day Shimane.

It was seven daughters down and one to go when down from heaven comes one Susano, the younger brother of the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami. Apparently Susano was sent out of heaven for causing too much unruly ruckus of some sort (details are unclear). Upon hearing the story, he volunteers to rid Izumo of the menace dragon in exchange, of course, for the hand in marriage of the last daughter. To accomplish this, he has eight very large vats filled with sake (one per head), and placed in front of the house, while he hides in the woods (with the last daughter, transformed by him into a comb, tucked safely into his hair).

After the Yamata-no-Orochi drinks most the vats of sake and is good and drunk, Susano appears and begins to chop off the heads and tails of the enormous monster. Despite the dragon's buzz, and Susano's godly status, this takes hours and is a tough battle, but in the end the dragon is killed. While cutting the last of the beast's tails, his sword catches on something a bit tougher than your average dragon sinew or bone. It ends up being an ornate sword, which he then donates to his sister the sun goddess. This sword, called Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, survives today and is a National Treasure of Japan.

You can see two stylized drawings of Yamata-no-Orochi at:
http://member.nifty.ne.jp/KGEC/KUGETSU/xyamata.htm
http://member.nifty.ne.jp/KGEC/KUGETSU/yamata.htm

Dragons and swords aside, currently, Shimane is number ten in Japan in terms of the number of breweries, despite its rather comparatively sparse population. Most of these are rather small, however, and so the actual amount of sake brewed does not reflect the number of breweries.

Yet Shimane makes its presence known. Not only are there a decent number of well known and easily recognizable sake, the prefecture as a whole usually has a very good showing at the New Sake Tasting sponsored each spring. This is a factor of several commitments to excellence.

One of these is the presence of a Prefectural Industrial Research Center that puts a significant amount of effort into improving sake quality. Over the past decade, Shimane has created several yeast strains and rice types well suited to their style of sake brewing. Most recently examples are Kan no Mai, (a cross between Miyama Nishiki and Gohyakumangoku) and Saka Nishiki. Beyond these two, more commonly seen rice strains grown in Shimane include Gohyakumangoku, Omachi, Yamada Nishiki and Kame no O.

Even more commendable is that 60% of all rice used in sake brewing in Shimane is proper sake rice. As 80% of all sake brewed in Japan is "table sake," most of this does not use premium sake rice, but rather run-of-the-mill stuff. The fact that Shimane is way above that average is encouraging.

The above-mentioned research center is also responsible for the initial design of many of the automated koji (malted rice) making machines, both small scale and large scale, found all over Japan. While many of these are used for cheap sake and large-scale production, some fine ginjo (a quality of sake) is being produced with automated or semi-automated koji machines, with the best of those being developed in Shimane.

And most importantly, what's it taste like? Indeed, Shimane sake has one of the most easily identifiable, describable, and likeable flavor and aromatic profiles in the country. In short, Shimane sake is comparatively dense in flavor, yet fine-grained and clean. There is usually a higher amino acid content, giving Shimane sake plenty of "umami" (flavor). More concretely, much sake from this region has a nutty touch with a subdued sweetness in the background, full flavor, and a brilliant acidity that both spreads the flavors and provides some backbone. Aromatically, flowers, melon-like fruit, and touches of autumnal things like pumpkins are common in Shimane sake.

With an ancient history tied to swords, dragons and myth, a brilliant toji guild, superior rice, and a thread of identity running through the region's sake, it is a wonder to me that Shimane sake is not even more popular. It is most surely a region worthy of the attention of all sake fans. Be sure to look both within Japan and without for sake from Shimane sometime soon.