Kitaya is a sake brewery with a 190-year history, currently succeeded by the founding family’s seventh generation descendent. The building itself has already been standing for some 140 years. What makes this sake special, though, is the exceptional climate and water quality of the Yame region.
Hanging from the eaves at the front of the brewery was a brownish ball. This is called a sugidama (ball made from sprigs of Japanese cedar) and it is used to announce when new sake is ready. The ball when first hung is green, and it will start to turn brown around the same time that the newly brewed sake has matured. The sugidama out the front of Kitaya is made once a year, but the enormous 2-tonne sugidama inside the brewery, made from 8 trucks worth of cedar sprigs carried down from the mountains, is made only once every four years.
Sake is a part of Japanese culture, so a trip to a sake brewery like this one is a good cultural experience for anyone wanting to see how Japanese sake is made.