”Sawasa Shuzo & Co.,” making sake in Iga; home of rice

2010.3.222019.4.23

Processing Iga rice

The first thing that comes in mind when you hear Iga is ”home of Ninja”. However, Iga is also ”home of rice”. The rice that is produced in Iga with a great weather condition has superior taste, flavor and stickiness and is called ”Iga Rice”.
Sawasa Shuzo that we visited makes sake using this Iga Rice. For the water, they use underground water from Koochidani which is a tourist site as well. The characteristic of Sawasa Shuzo is that they produce sake rooted to the local community.

Delicious sake containing organic acid

Furthermore, here they do not rely on machine and everything is done by hand. So the production quantity is low but they are highly regarded and won gold medal 7 years in a row at Japan New Sake Competition. Especially the Junmai Ginjo sake called ”Imprevue”. ”Imprevue” is made under special brewing technique and has a flavor similar to white wine. The reason for the flavor is because it contains high amount of organic acid. So this is also good for your body.
They select the local Iga Rice and creates sake one by one. Here is a sake where you van only get because if is a ”home of sake”.