Hello! December is coming and the busy season has arrived. How about a cup of sake to take a break from your busy day? In this issue, we introduce about Umeda Tasaburō, the Tamba Toji (skilled sake brewing craftsman), who is considered the creator of a sake brand “Kuromatsu Hakushika.”
Umeda Tasaburō was born in 1861. It was in 1881, at the age of 20, that he started brewing sake as a member of the Tamba Toji at Tatsuuma-Honke Brewing, the brewer of Hakushika brand. At that time, seasonal work for sake brewing was often performed by teenagers, and it is possible that he had worked in other sake breweries before that. After studying at the Tatsuma-Honke Brewing from 1881, he was given his first toji position at the Shinden No. 2 brewery in 1891. From 1902 to 1909, he was the toji of the Middle East brewery, from 1910 to 1915 the toji of the Shin-gura brewery, and from 1917 the toji of the Kita-Shinden No. 4 brewery. He served as toji at each brewery until 1931 and passed away in May 1932. His career at Tatsuma-Honke Brewery alone spanned 51 years, during which time he is credited with developing the “Kuromatsu Hakushika” brand method in 1920.
There is a record about Umeda Tasaburō. It says, “He is mild-mannered, deeply research minded, and he brew good sake. There are many toji in his disciples and he was adored by them. His sake received a special award at a sake competition.” As described here, not only was his own sake brewing skills of great excellence, but he also served as a supervisor over the 30 or so toji members of the Tatsuma-Honke Brewing at the time, and he also made a great contribution to the company by training younger brewers.
In fact, when a craftsman in Tasaburō’s disciple became a toji, he was often appointed at the Shinden and Kita-Shinden breweries, which were the main breweries of the Tatsuma-Honke Brewing at the time, and his skills were passed on to the next generation. Fukui Shōtarō, who oversaw koji making under Tasaburō and served as a toji of North-Shinden No.1 brewery from 1926, left a memo on sake brewing methods. Perhaps Tasaburō’s craftsmanship were recorded on it. Tasaburō’s methods were passed down from toji to toji throughout the postwar period.
In this issue, we introduced about Umeda Tasaburō, who was a great toji. Please check back for next month’s article!
Crucial things are not always visible!