Hello, I’m Mog.
こんにちは、Mogです。
Many of my relatives love Japanese sake. When we gathered for the New Year, each person brought a different type of sake to share.
私の親戚は日本酒が好きな人が多く、お正月に集まった時に、それぞれ色んな種類のお酒を持ってきてくれました。
Today, I’d like to introduce sake labels.
今回は、お酒のラベルを紹介します。
New Year Limited-Edition Labels
These are limited-edition labels made especially for the New Year, featuring this year’s zodiac animal, the horse. One of them even looks like a unicorn!
今年の干支、馬の絵が描かれたお正月限定のラベルです。一つはユニコーンですね！
In Japan, each year is associated with an animal called the zodiac. I explain this tradition in more detail in this article, so please take a look if you’re interested.
干支については、この記事に書いているので、良かったら読んでくださいね。
Beautiful Bottles and Labels
This bottle and label feel fresh and beautiful. Even through the label design, you can sense the care and passion of the people who made the sake.
爽やかで、美しいボトルとラベルですね。ラベルからも作り手の思いが届きます。
The Story of the Brewery
This label also has a deep, meaningful feeling to it.
これもまた、味わい深いラベルですね。
Label Text
Pure rain falls on Mount Miwa, a sacred mountain in Japan.
The rain seeps into the ground, travels through nature, and emerges as fresh spring water.
This water eventually becomes the sake of Miwa, born from the natural cycle of the land.
三輪山に降る清き雨
めぐりて湧き出す
三輪の酒
My brother-in-law poured the sake for me and said, “I want to support this brewery.” He told me the story behind how this sake was made.
義弟が「この酒蔵を応援しているんだ」と言いながら、お酒を注いでくれます。彼はこのお酒ができるまでのストーリーを話してくれました。
The current president, the 14th-generation head of the brewery, took over the business at a young age after the sudden passing of his father. At that time, the sake brewery was operating at a serious financial loss.
14代目の現社長は、父親の急逝により、若くして酒蔵を継ぐことになりました。その時、この酒蔵は酷い赤字経営でした。
He began to think deeply about what was truly necessary to create excellent sake. This reflection led him to make a bold decision: to completely rebuild the koji room.
彼は美味い酒作りのために何が必要かを考えました。そして、麹室を作り直す決断をしました。
The koji mold that lives in the koji room is the heart of sake brewing. It is essential for converting rice starch into sugar, yet it is extremely delicate and difficult to manage. Rebuilding the koji room and cultivating the koji mold from scratch was an extraordinarily risky and courageous choice.
麹室に住みつく麹菌は酒作りの要ですが、とても繊細で扱いが難しいのです。麹室から作り直し、一から麹菌を育てるのは想像を超える大きな決断だった事でしょう。
This challenge proved to be a great success. He was able to produce sake that fully satisfied his standards for quality and taste. As a result, he achieved a dramatic V-shaped recovery, successfully turning the business around.
この試みは大成功し、納得のいく美味しい酒を作ることができました。彼は事業を見事V字回復させたのです。
Listening to the story of how the sake is made and learning about the land it comes from is one of the true pleasures of drinking Japanese sake.
そのお酒ができるまでのストーリーや、その土地の話を聞くのも、日本酒を飲む時の楽しみです。
I’ve also written more about Japanese sake in this article, so please check it out if you like.
日本酒の話はこの記事にも書きましたので、良かったらどうぞ
Have a wonderful day!
では、よい一日を！
