【The Imperial Rice Variety That Disappeared for 100 Years - Long Live】
【Aichi Prefecture | Maruishi Brewing Co., Ltd. 】
ZJ171 - Maruishi Brewing Co., Ltd. Banzai Junmai Daiginjo | The imperial rice variety that disappeared for 100 years - Banzai
Special price: $245/bottle
Raw rice: 100% from Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture
Rice polishing ratio: 48%
Alcohol content: 16%
Year of manufacture: 2025
This sake is made with rice polished to 48% and the 100-year-old "Banzai rice" that was presented to the Emperor. It has the elegant fruity aroma of ripe pears and white peaches, the rich sweetness and dense texture unique to Wansai Rice, and the citrus fruit flavor in the aftertaste. It is velvety smooth in the mouth, round and layered.
【The Imperial Rice Variety That Disappeared 100 Years ago - Long Live】
According to legend, in 1915, Emperor Taisho used rice grown in Bikai County and Rokutsumi Village as tribute rice (Banzai rice). Ancient emperors, as leaders of Shintoism, used Banzai rice as sacrifices during memorial services to thank the gods for the good harvest this year. Wansui is a variety of rice that once disappeared in history.
["You can catch two rabbits only if you chase two rabbits" - Two Rabbits | Maruishi Brewing]
Maruishi Brewing has been producing sake in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture since 1690. Since then, the company has continued to produce sake for more than 330 years. The history of Maruishi began with the first generation of Tomachi Santayu. During the bustling Edo period, he heard about sake brewing on the Tokaido Road that led west to Edo, so in 1960 he started a sake brewing business to utilize the large amount of rice he had obtained from farmland. In the Meiji era, the company expanded its cotton and banking businesses, and in 1900, it built a brewery in Kubo-cho, Nishinomiya City, in the Nada area and began producing sake. Furthermore, the sake produced in the Nada area is called "Nagayo", and the sake produced locally in Okazaki is called "Mikawa Bushi". After that, the Okazaki plant began to produce shochu, mirin, miso, soy sauce, etc., which brought great prosperity to the factory. However, during the Pacific War, Okazaki was hit by an air raid and the brewery was almost burned down. After the war, the only remaining miso factory in Nakamachi, Okazaki City, was rebuilt and sake production resumed.
（Photo:/ Mr. Eiichiro Fukada）
In 2010, the person in charge, Mr. Eiichiro Fukada, was inspired during a business trip to Shanghai and wanted to create a wine suitable for overseas wine lovers and female wine lovers who have little exposure to Japanese sake. After years of experimentation, a new brand - Ertu - was finally born in 2015. The new brand name is taken from a Japanese proverb: You can't catch two rabbits at the same time. But the sake brewer said that it can be done as long as you are determined. With the goal of "chasing two rabbits to catch two rabbits", in order to achieve the integration of two opposing elements, Maruishi Brewing has gone through several years of repeated experiments and improvements, and has achieved the best balance of deliciousness through brewing of two seemingly contradictory characteristics such as "flavor and aroma", "acidity and taste", "heaviness and lightness", "sweetness and spiciness", "throat and aftertaste", "complexity and neatness"...
