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114-434: The Iya Valley has become an increasingly popular tourist destination for its natural environment and as one of the last few vestiges of old Japan. While the western part of the valley ( Nishi-Iya ) has good road access and tourist accommodations, the eastern part ( Higashi-Iya (東祖谷) or Oku-Iya (奥祖谷)) has lesser access routes. Several Vine Bridges continue to span the valley and have become a tourist attraction. The origin of

228-501: A sake -based broth that steeps in the surrounding miso. While usually prepared at festivals or special occasions, it is possible to find one on the menu at some inns and hotels. There is no local alcohol legally produced. While beer is common, the older generation prefers sake , and middle-aged men are more partial to shochu . The Iya drinking etiquette is usually practiced at shrine festivals, home parties, and banquets. A person has his own small cup from which he must first consume

342-510: A bamboo stick, and then slowly roasted over charcoal. The amego fish is also the main ingredient of hirara-yaki , an offering unique to the Iya Valley. This meal is traditionally slow-cooked on a large stone with a fire, but now more commonly prepared on a large iron griddle. Thick walls of miso paste (both red and white miso) are formed in a circle around the edges, and inside a collection of fish, potatoes, tofu, onions, and konnyaku are cooked in

456-434: A bitter taste from the peptides and a strong sour taste from the citric acid, which is sometimes compared to strawberry or red wine . Sake fermentation is a three-step process called sandan shikomi . The first step, called hatsuzoe , involves steamed rice, water, and kōji-kin being added to the yeast starter called shubo : a mixture of steamed rice, water, kōji , and yeast. This mixture becomes known as

570-460: A ceiling beam above and from which a pot could be hung, with the height adjusted according to the temperature sought. Often the jizai-kagi would be made of a bamboo pole with a carved wooden fish used for the hook adjusting mechanism (with the fish serving as a water talisman to ward off the danger of fire). Since fire would constantly burn, and there are no chimneys, the ceilings and beams often blackened with soot. The internal bamboo lattice to which

684-593: A change in his career. His pursuit of this led to his eventual establishment of Japanese native folkloristics , or minzokugaku , as an academic field in Japan. As a result, he is often considered to be the father of modern Japanese folklore studies. Yanagita was born as the fifth child of the Matsuoka family in the town of Fukusaki , located in Hyōgo Prefecture . He was born with the name Kunio Matsuoka (or Matsuoka Kunio in

798-458: A cupful to 'break it in'. Then the person passes the cup to his neighbor and pours him a cup (usually sake , but any alcohol or even non-alcohol is allowed). The neighbor must immediately drink it so he can return the cup. The cup is then poured for the person, and he must quickly drink it before returning. This sharing and serving of cups continue back and forth between two people as long as their conversation, and then they move on to other people in

912-536: A degree in law from Tokyo Imperial University , Yanagita began a career as a civil servant, working for the Department of Agricultural Administration of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce , that would last for about 20 years. Over the course of his time in bureaucracy, duties, Yanagita traveled around the countrysides of Honshū , the mainland of Japan. During these business trips, Yanagita became increasingly focused on

1026-464: A garnish for soups and noodle dishes and are a rather sought-after delicacy in the Iya Valley. As such, mountainous terrain is where they tend to grow randomly. However, like elsewhere in the country, due to the expense and difficulty in producing, it is probably more common at most local restaurants and hotels to be (unknowingly) served cheaper imported san-sai, usually from China. However, local people do produce san-sai for their own use, and if staying at

1140-627: A higher mineral content is known for producing drier-style sake. The first region known for having great water was the Nada-Gogō in Hyōgo Prefecture . A particular water source called Miyamizu was found to produce high-quality sake and attracted many producers to the region. Today Hyōgo has the most sake brewers of any prefecture. Typically breweries obtain water from wells, though surface water can be used. Breweries may use tap water and filter and adjust components. Aspergillus oryzae spores are another important component of sake. A. oryzae

1254-449: A home, it is common to be served hot or lukewarm. Several festivals of various sizes are held throughout the year. Most local Shinto shrines host their festivals for the surrounding neighborhood once or twice a year according to their own traditions. In these events, local customs often call for a group of men to carry a small (70–150 kg) portable shrine around the shrine grounds, accompanied by drummers, costumed people, and sometimes

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1368-417: A lack of flat space. The frames of the traditional homes are made with massive, interwoven red pine ( akamatsu 赤松) or southern Japanese hemlock ( tsuga 栂) logs for horizontal beams and squared-off chestnut ( kuri 栗) for vertical beams. All are connected through traditional craftsmanship without nails, allowing the wood to expand and contract with the seasons. Some of the oldest building examples date back to

1482-412: A new method of making starter mash, and in 1910, a further improvement, sokujō , was developed. Yeast strains specifically selected for their brewing properties were isolated, and enamel-coated steel tanks arrived. The government started hailing the use of enamel tanks as easy to clean, lasting forever, and devoid of bacterial problems. (The government considered wooden tubs to be unhygienic because of

1596-598: A one-lane road through the Gorge (called the "Iya Highway"). About halfway along this 20 km long cliffside road is the Peeing Boy Statue erected in honor of young boys who relieved themselves from this high precipice. Agriculture The traditional culinary offerings in the valley are based on small, terraced farm plots that climb the hillsides through the valley's hamlets. Few mechanized tools are used, though some have small hand-pushed tilling machines. The main fertilizer

1710-453: A pair of people throwing long bamboo staffs. Each shrine and neighborhood has its own customs (one or two even have their attendees engage in sumo ), but due to the dwindling population, these traditions are less common. The largest festivals in the valley are the summer festivals, one each in Nishi-Iya and Higashi-Iya. They are held at the middle school grounds on the weekends before and after

1824-461: A small inn or homestay you would probably have an opportunity to sample the real thing. In the past, hunting and fishing were common. However, wild boar and deer are still prized, and the few living hunters/trappers can now sell their finds at the new hunters' butchery, opened in 2014, located in Higashi Iya. As a result, such wild game is available in some local restaurants and hotels. Traditionally,

1938-505: A synonym not commonly used in conversation. In Japan, where it is the national beverage, sake is often served with special ceremony , where it is gently warmed in a small earthenware or porcelain bottle and sipped from a small porcelain cup called a sakazuki . As with wine, the recommended serving temperature of sake varies greatly by type. The origin of sake is unclear; however, the method of fermenting rice into alcohol spread to Japan from China around 500BCE. The earliest reference to

2052-501: A time when few visit the valley. Not simply a free-for-all event, this event is team-based, and participants often practice for months to coordinate their skills in the tightly ruled sport. There are several classes of participation, including children, women's, men's, and 'just for fun' leagues, and the winners of the main event advance to the national competition annually held in Nagano Prefecture. The original Iya hamlets extend up

2166-419: A whole, Yanagita's work is highly memorable and genre-defining. He is one of the premiere folklorists of Japan, and he helped to create the field of minzokugaku itself, earning him the title of "father of modern Japanese folklore." Sake Sake , saké ( 酒 , sake , / ˈ s ɑː k i , ˈ s æ k eɪ / SAH -kee, SAK -ay ) , or saki , also referred to as Japanese rice wine ,

2280-488: A world beverage with a few breweries in China, Southeast Asia, South America, North America, and Australia. In addition to Aspergillus oryzae (yellow kōji ), Aspergillus kawachii (white kōji ) and Aspergillus luchuensis (black kōji ), which are used to brew shōchū and awamori , have been used to brew sake since the 21st century. More breweries are also turning to older methods of production. For example, since

2394-405: Is 50% of the rice weight, mainly to increase the volume, while the maximum amount of distilled alcohol added to special-designation sake is 10% of the rice weight, to make the sake more aromatic and light in taste, and to prevent the growth of lactic acid bacteria, which deteriorate the flavor of the sake. It is often misunderstood that the added distilled alcohol is of poor quality, but that is not

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2508-517: Is a book known as The Legends of Tōno (1912). It is a compilation of short stories, practices, beliefs, and anecdotes from Tōno , a small, rural community surrounded by mountains in Iwate . From here, Yanagita's work developed into the anthropological study of folklore that he is still known for today. He published many other works, including several with folklorist Kizen Sasaki , with whom he collaborated extensively. Yanagita's focus on local traditions

2622-443: Is a microorganism used to manufacture food, its safety profile concerning humans and the environment in sake brewing and other food-making processes must be considered. Various health authorities, including Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), consider A. oryzae generally safe for use in food fermentation, including sake brewing. When assessing its safety, it is important to note that A. oryzae lacks

2736-435: Is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran . Despite the name Japanese rice wine , sake, and indeed any East Asian rice wine (such as huangjiu and cheongju ), is produced by a brewing process more akin to that of beer , where starch is converted into sugars that ferment into alcohol, whereas in wine , alcohol is produced by fermenting sugar that

2850-418: Is an enzyme-secreting fungus . In Japan, A. oryzae is used to make various fermented foods, including miso (a paste made from soybeans) and shoyu ( soy sauce ). It is also used to make alcoholic beverages, notably sake. During sake brewing, spores of A. oryzae are scattered over steamed rice to produce kōji (rice in which A. oryzae spores are cultivated). Under warm and moist conditions,

2964-610: Is another locally produced delicacy, which is a rubbery gelatin produced from a Japanese yam. Renowned for its medicinal and health qualities, it is served in soups, roasted, or uncooked with miso paste. A common treat is called dekomawashi which consists of a whole Iya potato, a square of iwadofu, and a wedge of konnyaku all skewered together on a bamboo stick, then slathered with miso and slowly roasted over coals. This can be found at roadside shops and most hotels and restaurants. Various types of wild mountain sprouts collectively known throughout Japan as san-sai (mountain vegetables) are

3078-653: Is believed that the pushback he received against his values and ideas may have contributed to his change in careers and shift toward folklore studies. Yanagita's departure from the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce allowed him the opportunity to further investigate rural Japan. He began in-depth analysis, traveling around to record stories of local customs, practices, and beliefs. It was at this point that his literary friends, including writer Shimazaki Toson , began encouraging him to publish works based on oral traditions and customs of rural villages. His most famous example of this

3192-446: Is called bodaimoto , which is the origin of kimoto . These innovations made it possible to produce sake with more stable quality than before, even in temperate regions. These things are described in Goshu no nikki , the oldest known technical book on sake brewing written in 1355 or 1489, and Tamonin nikki , a diary written between 1478 and 1618 by monks of Kōfuku-ji Temple in

3306-467: Is either prepared as a whole-grain porridge ( soba-gome ) or as noodles. To this day, noodles are ground by hand in traditional stone mortars in some households, and several people in the valley offer classes. The famed Iya potatoes are small and dense due to the rough and rocky soil conditions. Usually served roasted or in soups, a local dish consists of whole-boiled potatoes mixed with miso paste and garlic. Other foods include locally produced tofu, which

3420-721: Is involved in almost every major sake brewing process, from washing the rice to diluting the final product before bottling. The mineral content of the water can be important in the final product. Iron will bond with an amino acid produced by the kōji to produce off flavors and a yellowish color. Manganese , when exposed to ultraviolet light, will also contribute to discoloration. Conversely, potassium , magnesium , and phosphoric acid serve as nutrients for yeast during fermentation and are considered desirable. The yeast will use those nutrients to work faster and multiply resulting in more sugar being converted into alcohol. While soft water will typically yield sweeter sake, hard water with

3534-431: Is larger, stronger (if a grain is small or weak, it will break in the process of polishing), and contains less protein and lipid than ordinary table rice. Because of the cost, ordinary table rice, which is cheaper than sake rice, is sometimes used for sake brewing, but because sake rice has been improved and optimized for sake brewing, few people eat it. Premium sake is mostly made from sake rice. However, non-premium sake

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3648-457: Is mostly made from table rice. According to the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association, premium sake makes up 25% of total sake production, and non-premium sake ( futsushu ) makes up 75% of sake production. In 2008, a total of 180,000 tons of polished rice were used in sake brewing, of which sake rice accounted for 44,000 tons (24%), and table rice accounted for 136,000 tons (76%). Sake rice

3762-492: Is naturally present in fruit, typically grapes. The brewing process for sake differs from the process for beer, where the conversion from starch to sugar and then from sugar to alcohol occurs in two distinct steps. Like other rice wines , when sake is brewed, these conversions occur simultaneously. The alcohol content differs between sake, wine, and beer; while most beer contains 3–9% ABV , wine generally contains 9–16% ABV , and undiluted sake contains 18–20% ABV (although this

3876-405: Is no evidence to indicate A. oryzae is a harmful pathogen to either plants or animals in the scientific literature. Therefore, Health Canada considers A. oryzae "unlikely to be a serious hazard to livestock or to other organisms," including "healthy or debilitated humans." Given its safety record in the scientific literature and extensive history of safe use (spanning several hundred years) in

3990-465: Is not allowed to be added, and under the provisions of the Liquor Tax Act, 50% of the weight of rice is the upper limit for the most inexpensive sake classified as futsū-shu . After the war, the breweries gradually recovered and the quality of sake steadily improved, and there were various innovations in sake brewing. The term ginzō ( 吟造 ), which means carefully brewed sake, first appeared at

4104-466: Is of better quality than sake made with rice milled less. Sake made with highly milled rice has a strong aroma and a light taste without miscellaneous taste. It maximizes the fruity flavor of ginjō . On the other hand, sake made with less milled rice but with attention to various factors tends to have a rich sweetness and flavor derived from rice. Rice polishing ratio , called Seimai-buai 精米歩合 ( せいまいぶあい ) (see Glossary of sake terms ) measures

4218-485: Is often lowered to about 15% by diluting with water before bottling). In Japanese , the character sake ( kanji : 酒 , Japanese pronunciation: [sake] ) can refer to any alcoholic drink , while the beverage called sake in English is usually termed nihonshu ( 日本酒 ; meaning 'Japanese alcoholic drink'). Under Japanese liquor laws , sake is labeled with the word seishu ( 清酒 ; 'refined alcohol'),

4332-509: Is often used for making rice crackers , Japanese sweets (i.e. Dango ), and other food stuffs. If the sake is made with rice with a higher percentage of its husk and the outer portion of the core milled off, then more rice will be required to make that particular sake, which will take longer to produce. Thus, sake made with rice that has been highly milled is usually more expensive than sake that has been made with less-polished rice. This does not always mean that sake made with highly milled rice

4446-400: Is rather unusual in Japan, and is called ishi-tofu or iwa-dofu by the locals, which literally means "stone tofu." It gets its name from its thick density, so stiff that a brick-sized piece would be traditionally carried by a single rope wrapped around it. This is prepared in soups, roasted over charcoal with miso paste, or served uncooked with ground ginger, green onions, and soy sauce. Konnyaku

4560-463: Is recommended that sake with the name ginjō be transported and stored in cold storage. It is also recommended to drink chilled to maximize its fruity flavor. Junmai ( 純米 ) is a term used for the sake that is made of pure rice wine without any additional distilled alcohol. Special-designation sake which is not labeled Junmai has an appropriate amount of distilled alcohol added. The maximum amount of distilled alcohol added to futsū-shu

4674-463: Is slowly fermented for about 30 days at a low temperature of 5 to 10 degrees Celsius (41 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit ). Sake made in ginjō-zukuri is characterized by fruity flavors like apples, bananas, melons, grapes, peaches, pineapples, citrus, etc. In general, the flavor of sake tends to deteriorate when it is affected by ultraviolet rays or high temperatures, especially for sake made in ginjō-zukuri and un pasteurized namazake . Therefore, it

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4788-400: Is tax-free, the logic was that by banning the home-brewing of sake, sales would increase, and more tax revenue would be collected. This was the end of home-brewed sake. The Meiji government adopted a system in which taxes were collected when sake was finished, instead of levying taxes on the amount and price of sake at the time of sale to ensure more revenue from liquor taxes. The liquor tax for

4902-598: Is the Sudo Honke in Kasama, Ibaraki , founded in 1141 during the Heian Period (794–1185). Sudō Honke was also the first sake brewery to sell both namazake and hiyaoroshi . Hiyaoroshi refers to sake that is finished in winter, pasteurized once in early spring, stored and aged for a little while during the summer, and shipped in the fall without being pasteurized a second time. In terms of excavated archaeological evidence,

5016-451: Is the susuki grass (also called kaya ), which is also used as roof thatch. This grass is harvested in the mid-autumn and bundled into small pyramids around the fields to be used in the spring. Grains and Vegetables Various vegetables are produced for local consumption or for use in the valley's inns. Historically, rice was grown but proved difficult to cultivate in abundance. The main staples are soba (buckwheat) and potatoes. The soba

5130-439: Is the equivalent of table wine and accounts for 57% of sake production as of 2020. Tokutei meishō-shu refers to premium sake distinguished by the degree to which the rice has been polished and the added percentage of brewer's alcohol or the absence of such additives. There are eight varieties of special-designation sake. Ginjō ( 吟醸 ) is sake made using a special method called ginjō-zukuri ( 吟醸造り ), in which rice

5244-553: Is the job title of the sake brewer . There are various theories about the origin of the word, but the most popular is that it is a corruption of the word tōji ( 刀自 ) , which was used for housewives and elderly women who supervised miko (shrine maidens). This is because sake brewing was the work of housewives at home and miko at Shinto shrines . It is a highly respected job in the Japanese society , with tōji being regarded like musicians or painters . The title of tōji

5358-431: Is unique to it. This distinguishes sake from other brewed alcoholic beverages like beer because it occurs in a single vat, whereas with beer, for instance, starch-to-glucose conversion and glucose-to-alcohol conversion occur in separate vats. The breakdown of starch into glucose is caused by the kōji-kin fungus, while the conversion of glucose into alcohol is caused by yeast. Due to the yeast being available as soon as

5472-429: Is usually polished to a much higher degree than ordinary table rice. The reason for polishing is a result of the composition and structure of the rice grain itself. The core of the rice grain is rich in starch, while the outer layers of the grain contain higher concentrations of fats, vitamins, and proteins. Since a higher concentration of fat and protein in the sake would lead to off-flavors and contribute rough elements to

5586-416: The moromi (the main mash during sake fermentation). The high yeast content of the shubo promotes the fermentation of the moromi . On the second day, the mixture stands for a day to let the yeast multiply. The second step (the third day of the process), called nakazoe , involves the addition of a second batch of kōji , steamed rice, and water to the mixture. On the fourth day of

5700-640: The A. oryzae spores germinate and release amylases (enzymes that convert the rice starches into maltose and glucose). This conversion of starch into simple sugars (e.g., glucose or maltose) is called saccharification . Yeast then ferment the glucose and other sugar into alcohol . Saccharification also occurs in beer brewing, where mashing is used to convert starches from barley into maltose. However, whereas fermentation occurs after saccharification in beer brewing, saccharification (via A. oryzae ) and fermentation (via yeast) occur simultaneously in sake brewing (see "Fermentation" below). As A. oryzae

5814-654: The Heian period (794–1185), sake was used for religious ceremonies, court festivals, and drinking games. Sake production was a government monopoly for a long time, but in the 10th century, Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines began to brew sake, and they became the main centers of production for the next 500 years. Before the 1440s in the Muromachi period (1333－1573), the Buddhist temple Shōryaku-ji invented various innovative methods for making sake. Because these production methods are

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5928-550: The Nara period (710–794). The fermented food fungi traditionally used for making alcoholic beverages in China and Korea for a long time were fungi belonging to Rhizopus and Mucor , whereas in Japan, except in the early days, the fermented food fungus used for sake brewing was Aspergillus oryzae . Some scholars believe the Japanese domesticated the mutated, detoxified Aspergillus flavus to give rise to Aspergillus oryzae . In

6042-530: The National Tax Agency 's brewing research institute developed kijōshu ( 貴醸酒 ). New players on the scene—beer, wine, and spirits—became popular in Japan, and in the 1960s, beer consumption surpassed sake for the first time. Sake consumption continued to decrease while the quality of sake steadily improved. While the rest of the world may be drinking more sake and the quality of sake has been increasing, sake production in Japan has been declining since

6156-545: The Onin War (1467–1477). Sake was brewed at Tenryū-ji during the Muromachi Period (1336–1573). The rice used for brewing sake is called sakamai 酒米 ( さかまい ) ('sake rice'), or officially shuzō kōtekimai 酒造好適米 ( しゅぞうこうてきまい ) ('sake-brewing suitable rice'). There are at least 123 types of sake rice in Japan. Among these, Yamada Nishiki , Gohyakumangoku, Miyama Nishiki and Omachi rice are popular. The grain

6270-531: The Tokugawa shogunate issued sake brewing restrictions 61 times. In the early Edo period, there was a sake brewing technique called shiki jōzō ( 四季醸造 ) that was optimized for each season. In 1667, the technique of kanzukuri ( 寒造り ) for making sake in winter was improved, and in 1673, when the Tokugawa shogunate banned brewing other than kanzukuri because of a shortage of rice, the technique of sake brewing in

6384-459: The 18th to the early 20th centuries. In 2005 the hamlet was designated by the national government as a Juyo Dentoteki Kenzobutsugun 重要伝統的建造物群, (abbreviated to Judenken 重伝建), "Important Group of Traditional Structures." From 2012 to 2016, the City of Miyoshi, to which Iya belongs, restored eight houses, re-thatching the roofs, and installing modern comforts. The planning and design were done by Alex Kerr and

6498-506: The 21st century, the use of wooden tubs has increased again due to the development of sanitary techniques. The use of wooden tubs for fermentation has the advantage of allowing various microorganisms living in the wood to affect sake, allowing more complex fermentation and producing sake with different characteristics. It is also known that the antioxidants contained in wood have a positive effect on sake. The oldest sake brewing company still in operation, as confirmed by historical documents,

6612-423: The 21st century. From the 1980s, research was conducted to brew sake using Aspergillus kawachii (white kōji ), which is used to make shōchū , and sake made with Aspergillus kawachii became popular when Aramasa Co, Ltd. released "Amaneko" using Aspergillus kawachii in 2009. Aspergillus kawachii produces about 10 times more citric acid than Aspergillus oryzae , and thus has a strong ability to suppress

6726-580: The Chiiori staff. The houses are now managed for the city by Chiiori Alliance as "Tougenkyo Iya" 桃源郷祖谷 ("Shangrila Iya") The Iya Valley is known for its unique Vine Bridges (called "kazurabashi") over the Iya River, made of several tons of Actinidia argute (hardy kiwi) vines from the surrounding mountains. At one point there were 13 of them, but now only 3 remain: the main Iya-no-Kazurabashi in Nishi-Iya, and

6840-521: The Iya Valley are referred to as the Iya Gorge (祖谷渓 Iya-kei ). This area is mostly undeveloped and unpopulated. The original road to the Iya Valley runs through this area (Rt 32) and was built between the years 1902 and 1920. Though a modern tunnel now connects the central valley to Oboke (allowing faster and easier access to the main areas of the Iya Valley), it is still possible to take the old route, mostly

6954-568: The Japanese food industry, the FDA and World Health Organization (WHO) also support the safety of A. oryzae for use in the production of foods like sake. In the US, the FDA classifies A.oryzae as a Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) organism. In addition to Aspergillus oryzae (yellow kōji ), Aspergillus kawachii (white kōji ) and Aspergillus luchuensis (black kōji ), which are used to brew shōchū and awamori , have been used to brew sake since

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7068-407: The Japanese manner of naming), but was adopted into the family of a court justice named Naohei Yanagita. At the time, it was fairly common practice for families without a son to adopt a young boy or man into the family to inherit the family's property. This would often occur through marriage, with the adopting family marrying a daughter of the family off to their chosen heir as a way of binding him to

7182-462: The Muromachi period. A large tub with a capacity of 10 koku (1,800 liters) was invented at the end of the Muromachi period, making it possible to mass-produce sake more efficiently than before. Until then, sake had been made in jars with a capacity of 1, 2, or 3 koku at the most, and some sake brewers used to make sake by arranging 100 jars. In the 16th century, the technique of distillation

7296-792: The Nada-Gogō area on the coast, where the weather and water quality were perfect for brewing sake and convenient for shipping it to Edo. In the Genroku era, when the culture of the chōnin class, the common people, prospered, the consumption of sake increased rapidly, and large quantities of taruzake (樽酒) were shipped to Edo. 80% of the sake drunk in Edo during this period was from Nada-Gogō. Many of today's major sake producers, including Hakutsuru, Ōzeki, Nihonsakari, Kikumasamune, Kenbishi and Sawanotsuru , are breweries in Nada-Gogō. During this period, frequent natural disasters and bad weather caused rice shortages, and

7410-541: The Oku-Iya Double Vine Bridges ("Oku-Iya Niju Kazurabashi") located at the furthest end of Higashi-Iya near the base of Mt Tsurugi. The main Iya-no-Kazurabashi, 45 meters in length, is classified as an important Tangible Folk Culture Property. Its vines are replaced every 3 years and reinforced with steel cables for safety. The western part of the valley (Nishi-Iya) is a favorable tourist spot due to its historic vine bridge ( kazurabashi ) and hot spring baths at

7524-574: The Yamashiro District of Miyoshi City, where it joins the Yoshino River at an elevation of about 90m . The Iya Valley was formerly divided into two designated villages, East Iya (東祖谷山村) and West Iya (西祖谷山村). On March 1, 2006, both villages merged with other local towns to form Miyoshi City . Locally, the two former villages are still referred to by their old names, "Nishi-Iya" (West Iya) and "Higashi-Iya" (East Iya). The lower reaches of

7638-431: The ability to produce toxins, unlike the closely related Aspergillus flavus . To date, there have been several reported cases of animals (e.g. parrots , a horse ) being infected with A. oryzae . In these cases the animals infected with A. oryzae were already weakened due to predisposing conditions such as recent injury, illness or stress, hence were susceptible to infections in general. Aside from these cases, there

7752-419: The affairs of rural villages and their agricultural economic policy. As time passed, Yanagita began growing increasingly critical of the lack of concern for local autonomy allowed by the policies favored by his fellow civil servants. He gradually began to advocate in support of these groups, pushing for a shift in agricultural focus to center around cooperatives of small farmers rather than wealthy landlords. It

7866-424: The burn, four chestnut logs would be placed inward at each corner, and a small, flameless charcoal fire within the joining point at the center would slowly burn on the tips of the logs, and as the logs burned out, they would be pushed slightly more into the center. The irori would be used for cooking, either with an iron pot stand or with the suspended jizai-kagi (自在鈎) which consists of an adjustable hook connected to

7980-437: The degree of rice polishing. For example, a rice polishing ratio of 70% means that 70% of the original rice grain remains and 30% has been polished away. As of 2023, the most polished sake will have a polishing ratio of 0.85% or less, with at least 99.15% of its rice grains polished away. This sake will be Reikyo Crystal 0 ( 零響 Crystal 0 ) , released by Niizawa Brewery Co. (新澤醸造店), priced at 1,375,000 yen for 720 ml. Water

8094-509: The earliest representative varieties. In 1923, Yamada Nishiki , later called the "king of sake rice," was produced. Among more than 123 varieties of sake rice as of 2019, Yamada Nishiki ranks first in production and Omachi fourth. The government opened the sake-brewing research institute in 1904, and in 1907 the first government-run sake-tasting competition was held. In 1904, the National Brewing Laboratory developed yamahai ,

8208-431: The end of the Edo period, and the term ginjō ( 吟醸 ), which has the same meaning, first appeared in 1894. However, ginjō-shu ( 吟醸酒 ), which is popular in the world today, was created by the development of various sake production techniques from the 1930s to around 1975. From 1930 to 1931, a new type of rice milling machine was invented, which made it possible to make rice with a polishing ratio of about 50%, removing

8322-399: The entirety of the Iya Valley. Mount Tsurugi (剣山 Tsurugi-san ), the second-highest peak on the island of Shikoku, is at the eastern most part of the Iya Valley along the border with Tsurugi town . The Iya River headwaters begin flowing from the springs off the mountain, some at altitudes as high as 1800m. The Iya Valley follows the river for about 50 km to the village of Iyaguchi (祖谷口) in

8436-519: The family. In this particular case, a match was made between the future folklorist and Naohei's daughter, Taka. The two were wed in 1901, and his name was changed to Kunio Yanagita. Yanagita was known from a fairly young age for his interest in literature, particularly that of poetry. He also was a fan of Western literature. As he began to take an interest in folklore, Yanagita began reading ethnologies by Western anthropologists, such as Edward Burnett Tylor , shaping his later work. After graduating with

8550-471: The fermentation alone can take two weeks. On the other hand, ginjō-shu takes about 30 days for fermentation alone. Like other brewed beverages, sake tends to benefit from a period of storage. Nine to twelve months are required for the sake to mature. Maturation is caused by physical and chemical factors such as oxygen supply, the broad application of external heat, nitrogen oxides, aldehydes, and amino acids, among other unknown factors. Tōji ( 杜氏 )

8664-419: The fermentation, the third step of the process, called tomezoe , takes place. Here, the third and final batch of kōji, steamed rice, and water is added to the mixture, followed by up to ten days or so of additional fermentation to complete the three-step process. The multiple parallel fermentation process of sake brewing, where starch is converted into glucose followed by immediate conversion into alcohol,

8778-445: The four seasons ceased, and it became common to make sake only in winter until industrial technology began to develop in the 20th century. During this period, aged for three, five, or nine years, koshu ( 古酒 ) was a luxury, but its deliciousness was known to the common people. In the 18th century, Engelbert Kaempfer and Isaac Titsingh published accounts identifying sake as a popular alcoholic beverage in Japan, but Titsingh

8892-512: The glucose is produced, the conversion of glucose to alcohol is very efficient in sake brewing. This results in sake having a generally higher alcohol content than other types of beer or wine. After the fermentation process is complete, the fermented moromi is pressed to remove the sake lees and then pasteurized and filtered for color. The sake is then stored in bottles under cold conditions (see "Maturation" below). The process of making sake can range from 60 to 90 days (2–3 months), while

9006-796: The growth of bacteria that damage the flavor of sake. It also imparts a sour, citrus-like flavor to sake. Because it produces so much citric acid, older sake-making methods such as kimoto or yamahai can produce a starter mash as quickly as modern sokujō . Kimoto and yamahai do not add artificial lactic acid, which allows them to be labeled "additive-free," giving them a marketing advantage when exporting. As of 2022, sake made with Aspergillus luchuensis (black kōji , ) will not be as popular as sake made with Aspergillus kawachii . It produces more citric acid than Aspergillus kawachii . However, it produces less amino acids , which produce complex flavors such as umami , bitterness, and sweetness, and more peptides , which produce bitterness, resulting in

9120-590: The hamlet of Asa 阿佐, this is one of the largest houses in Iya, formerly lived in by the leader of the descendants of the Heike warriors who fled into Iya in the late 12th century. The present house dates from 1862 and was fully restored in 1917. Kita-ke House 喜多家住宅. Located in the hamlet of Oeda 大枝, this was formerly a samurai residence, like Asa-ke a very large house for Iya. It was built in Horeki 13 宝暦13, which corresponds to 1763. It

9234-523: The introduction of Chinese characters, the Kanji characters 祖谷 ("Iya"), which translates to "ancestor valley" were chosen since they matched both the meaning and the phonetics. The remoteness of the Iya Valley made it a famous hideout for defeated samurai warriors and other refugees over the centuries. The most infamous inhabitants of the area were members of the Taira clan , who were believed to have sought refuge in

9348-419: The large hotels. Most tourists do not go deeper mainly due to the one lane road creating restrictions for most tour buses. The deeper reaches of the valley in Higashi Iya are more conserved. Temperatures are moderate in summer compared to most parts of the country. Aside from the scenic double vine bridge (Oku-Iya Kazurabashi), there are historic hamlets, thatched-roof homes, extensive mountain hiking, and one of

9462-442: The local hunters had huts deep in the mountains (only a dozen or so remain active) where their kills were taken and butchered, the hunting dogs were fed, the meat was grilled and shared. It was a common practice for the prime cuts to be eaten raw. River trout ( amego ) is a popular delicacy, and though some still fished it, it is more commonly farmed by a few local hatcheries. The entire fish is usually encrusted in salt, skewered with

9576-559: The mid-1970s. The number of sake breweries is also declining. While there were 3,229 breweries nationwide in fiscal 1975, the number had fallen to 1,845 in 2007. In recent years, exports have rapidly increased due to the growing popularity of sake worldwide. The value of sake exports in 2022 was more than six times that of 2009. As of 2022, the value of Japan's alcoholic beverage exports was approximately 139.2 billion yen, with Japanese whisky in first place at 56.1 billion yen and sake in second place at 47.5 billion yen. Today, sake has become

9690-518: The miscellaneous taste derived from the surface part of the rice grain to make sake with a more aromatic and refreshing taste than before. In 1936, Yamada Nishiki , the most suitable sake rice for brewing ginjō-shu , became the recommended variety of Hyogo Prefecture . Around 1953, the "Kyokai yeast No. 9" ( kyokai kyu-gō kōbo , 協会9号酵母 ) was invented, which produced fruit-like aromas like apples and bananas but also excelled in fermentation. From around 1965, more and more manufacturers began to work on

9804-480: The name Iya is unclear. According to noted Japanese historical researcher Kunio Yanagita , the term "Iya" (イヤ) or "Oya" (オヤ) has been used since times immemorial to denote this mountainous valley region. This term may translate to "ancestor" or "mountain/land spirit" (In Japanese tradition, one's ancestral spirits dwell in mountains), but since it is a phonetic term and predates the introduction of Chinese characters, it remains uncertain. According to Kunio Yanagita ,

9918-414: The national Obon Holiday (August 15) since it is a time when family members who have moved away often return for a visit. These events are open to anyone and include food tents, games, performances, and fireworks, so if visiting the area at this time, ask around or look for promotional posters. The Yukigassen (Snowball Fight Competition) is held each January in Higashi Iya and has become a major event at

10032-529: The national government. In 1878, the liquor tax accounted for 12.3% of the national tax revenue, excluding local taxes, and in 1888 it was 26.4%, and in 1899 it was 38.8%, finally surpassing the land tax of 35.6%. In 1899, the government banned home brewing in anticipation of financial pressure from the First Sino-Japanese War and in preparation for the Russo-Japanese War . Since home-brewed sake

10146-456: The oldest art installations in the country. 33°52′31″N 133°50′07″E  /  33.87528°N 133.83528°E  / 33.87528; 133.83528 Kunio Yanagita Kunio Yanagita ( Japanese : 柳田 國男 , Hepburn : Yanagita Kunio , July 31, 1875 – August 8, 1962) was a Japanese author, scholar, and folklorist . He began his career as a bureaucrat, but developed an interest in rural Japan and its folk traditions. This led to

10260-479: The oldest known sake brewery is from the 15th century near an area that was owned by Tenryū-ji , in Ukyō-ku, Kyoto . Unrefined sake was squeezed out at the brewery, and there are about 180 holes (60 cm wide, 20 cm deep) for holding storage jars. A hollow (1.8 meter wide, 1 meter deep) for a pot to collect drops of pressed sake and 14th-century Bizen ware jars were also found. It is estimated to be utilized until

10374-628: The origin of the basic production methods for sake brewing today, Shoryakuji is often said to be the birthplace of seishu ( 清酒 ). Until then, most sake had been nigorizake with a different process from today's, but after that, clear seishu was established. The main production methods established by Shōryaku-ji are the use of all polished rice ( morohaku zukuri , 諸白造り), three-stage fermentation ( sandan zikomi , 三段仕込み), brewing of starter mash using acidic water produced by lactic acid fermentation ( bodaimoto zukuri , 菩提酛づくり), and pasteurization ( hiire , 火入れ). This method of producing starter mash

10488-437: The potential bacteria living in the wood.) Although these things are true, the government also wanted more tax money from breweries, as using wooden tubs means a significant amount of sake is lost to evaporation (approximately 3%), which could have otherwise been taxed. This was the temporary end of the wooden-tubs age of sake, and the use of wooden tubs in brewing was temporarily eliminated. In Japan, sake has long been taxed by

10602-503: The research and development of ginjō-shu , and by about 1968, the Kyokai yeast No. 9 began to be used throughout Japan. In the 1970s, temperature control technology in the mash production process improved dramatically. And by slowly fermenting rice at low temperatures using high-milled rice and a newly developed yeast, ginjō-shu with a fruity flavor was created. At that time, ginjō-shu was a special sake exhibited at competitive exhibitions and

10716-426: The roof thatch would be lashed to would accordingly turn a deep red-brown when polished (called susutake 煤竹 ), and it was sought after by handicraft workers whenever a roof was replaced. One of the main reasons to have such a smokey atmosphere was to help dry out the roof thatch from the inside and extend its lifespan (usually about 25 or 30 years). However, the smoke-filled homes did serve an additional purpose, which

10830-455: The room. It is proper to share at least one cup with every person present at the occasion, which takes a long time and results in heavy intoxication at large gatherings. It is common for local people to grow and roast their own tea, called bancha (番茶), and it is primarily used for household consumption. Each spring, the youngest leaves are picked, roasted, pressed by hand, and dried in the sun on straw mats laid out in front of homes. When visiting

10944-401: The sake produced in a given year had to be paid to the government during that fiscal year, so the breweries tried to make money by selling the sake as soon as possible. This destroyed the market for aged koshu , which had been popular until then, and it was only in 1955 that sake breweries began to make koshu again. When World War II brought rice shortages, the sake-brewing industry

11058-450: The sake, the outer layers of the sake rice grain is milled away in a polishing process, leaving only the starchy part of the grain (some sake brewers remove over 60% of the rice grain in the polishing process). That desirable pocket of starch in the center of the grain is called the shinpaku ( 心白 , しんぱく ). It usually takes two to three days to polish rice down to less than half its original size. The rice powder by-product of polishing

11172-420: The same preventing deterioration in quality. This originates from the distilled alcohol addition used in modern sake brewing. The Nada-Gogō area in Hyōgo Prefecture , the largest producer of modern sake, was formed during this period. When the population of Edo , modern-day Tokyo , began to grow rapidly in the early 1600s, brewers who made sake in inland areas such as Fushimi , Itami , and Ikeda moved to

11286-564: The same time or soon after Kimura-ke in the Genroku Era 元禄時代 (1688-1704). Bought by writer Alex Kerr in 1973, it has been the center first of a volunteer movement, and since the 2000s, NPO "Chiiori Trust" and company "Chiiori Alliance" dedicated to rural revival in Iya and elsewhere in Japan. The house was fully restored in 2012. Houses in Ochiai Hamlet 落合集落. Ochiai hamlet, perched on a steep hillside, includes numerous old houses dating from

11400-466: The seventeenth century. The foundations are usually made entirely of chestnut beams due to its high strength and anti-rotting properties, and the base beams simply sit upon stone piles such that nothing is actually secured to the ground (that is, no concrete or planting of beams). Inside, the center point of the home is the approximately one-meter square irori (囲炉裏 sunken floor hearth), which would usually stay alight with low embers at all times. To maintain

11514-409: The thatch is a time-consuming and costly endeavor, most personal homes have shifted to corrugated tin panels to prevent it from rotting. Though thatch isn't visible, it is easy to spot these homes on the hillsides from their thick, high-pitched roofs. Since the 1950s, many of the thatched homes have had their roof pitch lowered or completely replaced with either tiles or corrugated tin. Historically, it

11628-433: The unique practices of different groups of common people, such as sanka or mountain dwellers, and island dwellers. He also focused primarily on what he saw as the three areas of folklore studies: material objects, oral transmission, and mental or emotional phenomenon. This third category, accessible only to those who share a deep understanding through similar experiences, is considered the main focus of folklore studies. As

11742-655: The use of alcohol in Japan is recorded in the Book of Wei in the Records of the Three Kingdoms . This 3rd-century Chinese text speaks of Japanese drinking and dancing. Alcoholic beverages ( 酒 , sake ) are mentioned several times in the Kojiki , Japan's first written history, which was compiled in 712. Bamforth (2005) places the probable origin of true sake (which is made from rice, water, and Koji ( 麹 , Aspergillus oryzae )) in

11856-647: The valley after facing defeat in the Genpei War (1180-1185) to the Minamoto clan , who went on to found the Kamakura Shogunate in the late 12th century. Iya has a number of vine bridges, which are said to have been initially created by the Taira and can be found in parts of the valley. Several rivers flow through the Iya Valley region, but the Iya River (祖谷川 Iya-gawa ) is the primary one. It flows, from east to west, through

11970-514: The valley walls in clusters, and roads have only been built to connect to the main roadway at the base of the valley in the last forty years. Roads in many hamlets were built as recently as the 1990s. The traditional home building style in the Iya valley is called kayabuki ( 茅葺 thatched roof house, also called minka 民家) and many examples of these buildings still exist, though those with exposed thatch have been re-purposed as inns, restaurants, or historic sites. Since cutting, bundling and replacing

12084-405: Was common for a home site to consist of three buildings: the main home, the barn, and the inkyo (隠居) "retirement home", a smaller but independently functioning house for the family's oldest members. As one set of grandparents passes away, the next moves into this house. Most modern homes from the 1960s onwards lie along the main valley roadside and are often built with heavy steel scaffolds due to

12198-589: Was hampered as the government discouraged the use of rice for brewing. As early as the late 17th century, it had been discovered that small amounts of distilled alcohol could be added to sake before pressing to extract aromas and flavors from the rice solids. During the war, large amounts of distilled alcohol and glucose were added to small quantities of rice mash, increasing the yield by as much as four times. A few breweries were producing "sake" that contained no rice. The quality of sake during this time varied considerably. Incidentally, as of 2022, so much distilled alcohol

12312-621: Was historically passed from father to son. Today new tōji are either veteran brewery workers or are trained at universities. While modern breweries with cooling tanks operate year-round, most old-fashioned sake breweries are seasonal, operating only in the cool winter months. During the summer and fall, most tōji work elsewhere, commonly on farms, only periodically returning to the brewery to supervise storage conditions or bottling operations. There are two basic types of sake: Futsū-shu ( 普通酒 , ordinary sake) and Tokutei meishō-shu ( 特定名称酒 , special-designation sake) . Futsū-shu

12426-609: Was introduced into the Kyushu district from Ryukyu. The brewing of shōchū , called "Imo–sake" started and was sold at the central market in Kyoto . By the Genroku era (1688–1704) of the Edo period (1603–1867), a brewing method called hashira jōchū ( 柱焼酎 ) was developed in which a small amount of distilled alcohol ( shōchū ) was added to the mash to make it more aromatic and lighter in taste, while at

12540-474: Was moved to its present location and fully restored in 1990. Kimura-ke House 木村家住宅. Located in the hamlet of Tsurui 釣井, this is oldest house in Iya, dated to Genroku 12 元禄12, which corresponds to 1699. In 1976 it was declared an Important Cultural Property 重要文化財, and it was fully restored in 1984. Chiiori 篪庵. "Sister house" to Kimura-ke, just up the hill in Tsurui hamlet. It's believed to have been built around

12654-403: Was not on the market. From around 1975, ginjō-shu began to be marketed and was widely distributed in the 1980s, and in 1990, with the definition of what can be labeled as ginjō-shu , more and more brewers began to sell ginjō-shu . The growing popularity of ginjō-shu has prompted research into yeast, and many yeasts with various aromas optimized for ginjō-shu have been developed. In 1973,

12768-446: Was part of a larger effort to insert the lives of commoners into narratives of Japanese history . He argued that historical narratives were typically dominated by events pertaining to rulers and high-ranking officials. Yanagita claimed that these narratives focused on elite-centered historical events and ignored the relative uneventfulness and repetition that characterized the lives of ordinary Japanese people across history. He emphasized

12882-555: Was the first to try to explain and describe the process of sake brewing. The work of both writers was widely disseminated throughout Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. Starting around the beginning of the Meiji era (1868－1912), the technique for making sake began to develop rapidly. Breeding was actively carried out in various parts of Japan to produce sake rice optimized for sake brewing. Ise Nishiki developed in 1860, Omachi developed in 1866 and Shinriki developed in 1877 are

12996-591: Was to help cure the tobacco leaves that would be hung from the rafters during the winter (until the 1970s, tobacco was the primary cash-crop in the valley. Currently it is no longer grown anywhere in Iya). Also standard in the homes is the storage cellar, located under a removable pair of floorboards. The cellar is dug about one meter deep into the ground and is used to store potatoes, pickles and other foods in cooler temperatures, especially during The best known historical houses of East Iya are: Asa-ke House 阿佐家住宅. Located in

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