Hello! It is starting to look like autumn. The sake brewing season has arrived this month. We are already looking forward to this year’s new sake. In conjunction with the Sake Reference Room Summer-Fall Exhibition “Great Sake Brewers in Nishinomiya and Imazu”, we will introduce about Tatsuuma Kijūrō, who actively introduced Western technology to sake brewing in the Meiji period (1868-1912).
Tatsuuma Kijūrō, like Tatsuuma Etsuzo introduced in the previous issue, was also a descendant of the main Tatsuuma family. The family founded by Etsuzo is called the Kita (North) -Tatsuuma family, and the family founded by Kijūrō is called the Minami (South) -Tatsuuma family. Kijūrō became the head of the latter family during the Meij period (1868-1912), and actively introduced Western technology into sake brewing to modernize the industry, including building sake brewery by bricks, introducing a steam engine to power rice milling, using coal for fuel, and establishing a brewing laboratory to apply scientific knowledge to sake brewing.
He also established the first company in the history of the Nada region to specialize in the sake brewing business and a bank for sake brewers. In 1887, he founded Kyōdō Brewing Company with other brewers in Nishinomiya. And then, the company changed its name to Nihon Sesshu and became one of the top ten largest brewers in Nadagogo, the largest sake brewing region in Japan. The company’s rapid progress was supported by the Ebisu Bank, a bank for sake brewers, whose president was also him. The bank’s loans enabled the company to upgrade its western-style facilities, and the bank in turn gained an excellent lender in the form of it, creating a virtuous cycle. However, due to wartime government policy, the company ceased to exist, and the bank merged with the Kobe Bank and ceased to exist.
By the way, in addition to Nihon Sesshu, another sake brewing company was established in Nishinomiya during the Meiji period(1868-1912). That company was Nishinomiya Kigyō Gaisha (Nishinomiya Enterprise Company), the predecessor of Nihonsakari Co., Ltd. The company was founded in 1889 by a group of sake brewers in Nishinomiya and changed its name to Nishinomiya Shuzō Gaisha (Nishinomiya Brewing Company) in 1896. Like the relationship between Nihon Sesshu and Ebisu Bank, it grew into a large company in cooperation with Nishinomiya Bank. In 2000, the company’s name was changed to Nihonsakari. The Sake Reference Room Summer-Autumn Exibition “Great Sake Brewers in Nishinomiya and Imazu”, being held until November 18, also features the achievements of Morimoto Jinbē, who became the third president of Nishinomiya Shuzō Gaisha in 1894. Please visit and see the exhibition! We look forward to seeing you next month.
They are very gorgeous!