Amanoto

Our Story

Soko Kakizaki, the founder of this brewery noticed that there were no sake breweries in the town of Hiraka despite the fact that the area was blessed with an ideal location for sake brewing. He asked local people for help and finally started brewing sake with a capital of only 20,000 yen.
On the occasion of founding our brewery, he named our sake “Amanoto” after a waka, or a Japanese poem “天の戸は静かに開けて神路山杉の青葉に日影さすみゆ”
In Japanese ancient mythology, there is a story that Amaterasu Ohmikami, the goddess of the sun concealed herself in a cave and shut the stone door and the world turned into darkness. But other gods danced with being naked, made the goddess come out of the cave, and revived the sunlight in the whole world. This waka describes this story in the myth by saying “Amanoto, a door in the heaven, has opened and fresh green leaves of seder trees in Mt. Kamiji is making a shade.”
Soutoku Soko associated this waka with the creation of a bright future. He implied the hope for this brewery to seek a better future while cherishing and inheriting the tradition.
As Kurabitos in this brewery, we have a sense of mission in pursuing the path of brewing sake that brings people together with smiles while treasuring the tradition that our ancestors sustained and passed down to us.

Amanoto's Sake

Water

Water We use the spring water from Biwanuma Kansen for brewing Amanoto's sake.
This spring water is very soft, with a 2.7 mg/L hardness. The water temperature is stable at around 11 ℃. These factors make Amanoto sake tastes sweeter than sake from other breweries.
In the fermentation period, yeasts convert sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxide. Yeasts are activated the most when the temperature is around 35 ℃ and they use minerals as their nutrients. Since the temperature of Amanoto’s water is low in temperature and minerals, the activity of yeasts becomes slower. That causes sake to contain more sugar in itself, making it sweeter than sake at high temperatures and with more minerals.

Rice

We are keenly aware of organic and sustainable farming practices.
For the sake of the environment, we contract only with farmers who avoid as much sewage and pesticides as possible for growing rice. Besides, the contracted farmers of this brewery are all doing their business in the Yokote basin because we aim to boost local production for local consumption. We also strive to revitalize the abandoned farmlands into ricefields for sakamai, in order to retain a healthy ecosystem of the surrounding areas.

Tradition

We cherish the traditional brewing method to maximize the taste of rice. In the filtering process, we use a facility called Fune. Kurabitos fill sakebukuro, or cotton bags for filtration, with moromi, one by one. Then they pile them up neatly in Fune, and finally press them from above. The weight is imposed gradually, taking a whole day. Craftsmanship is crucial in using the traditional method. During the filtration, Kurabitos control the amount of moromi per bag to keep the balance, and they employ a delicate technique to fold the mouth of the bags to prevent leakage of moromi. This method might be inefficient, but we stick to it since it realizes the rich taste of rice in our sake. When you feel a rich and full body taste, that is proof of our craftsmanship.

Junmai-Shu

We have been brewing Junmai-Shu exclusively since 2011. Junmai-Shu is composed only of rice, koji, and water. Our brewery is the first penguin in Akita that abandoned brewer’s alcohol in the fermentation process. It might be easier to stabilize the quality of sake by adding brewer’s alcohol, but we trust the knowledge and experience of Kurabitos for strict control of the quality. Junmai-Shu is less likely to cause a hangover, creating a more enjoyable time of drinking sake for you all.

History

1917 - Ltd. founded in Asamai, Hirakamachi, Akita Prefecture

Although blessed with beautiful and abundant spring water, Soko Kakizaki was disappointed that there were no sake breweries in the town of Hiraka, despite the fact that the area was blessed with an ideal location for sake brewing.

1934 - Awarded a special prize at a national sake fair and a prize of excellence for four consecutive years.

1943 - Closure of business and reopening of business

In 1943, during the wartime period, the company was forced to close its business. However, the strong desire of the local people to "preserve Amanoto" reached the Ministry of Finance, and on December 6 of the following year, a new sake brewing license was issued and the brewery resumed operations.

1968 - The company was one of the first to begin producing and selling special-class junmai sake (the first in Akita Prefecture).

2010 - All Junmai sake brewed with Junmai rice

Recent Awards

2016 - Top Prize in Junami Daiginjo section at International Wine Challenge

2020 - Platinum Prize at Kura Master

Top Message

With appreciation for the environment blessed for Sake brewing in the southern part of Akita prefecture, all of our sake is produced with only rice. Under our policy, “Sake is produced from the rice paddies,” all of our Sake are Junmai-shu. All of the brewery staff will work together to deliver a small happiness to our customers.