Early in the morning, Japanese sake brewer Mei Takahashi checks the temperature of the fermenting mixture at Koten, her family’s 150-year-old sake brewery at the foot of the Japanese Alps.
She stands on an uneven narrow wooden platform over a large tank containing more than 3,000 liters (800 gallons) of steamed rice, water, and a bubbling soup of rice mold known as koji, and stirs it well with a long paddle.
Takahashi, 43, said, “Morning time is important for making sake. His brewery is in Nagano Prefecture, which is its sake-making region.
Takahashi is one of a small group of female toji, or master sake brewers. Out of more than 1,000 breweries across the country, only 33 female toji are registered with Japan’s Toji Guild Association.
That was a few decades ago. Women were largely excluded from production until after World War II.
Sake-making has a history of more than a thousand years, with strong roots in Japan’s traditional Shinto religion.
But when large-scale production of alcohol began in the Edo period, from 1603 to 1868, an obscure rule barred women from the breweries.
The reasons behind the ban are unclear. One theory is that women were considered impure because of menstruation and were therefore barred from sacred places, said Yasuyuki Kishi, vice president of Niigata University’s Sakeology Center.
“Another theory is that because sake was produced on a large scale, very heavy labor and dangerous operations were involved,” he said. “So the work was seen as unsuitable for women.”
But the gradual breakdown of gender barriers, coupled with a labor shortage caused by Japan’s rapidly growing population, has created room for more women to work for the sake of production.
“It’s still a mostly male-dominated industry. But I think now people focus on whether someone has the passion to do it, regardless of gender,” Takahashi said.
He believes that mechanization in liquor stores is also helping to reduce the gender gap. At Koten, a crane picks up hundreds of kilograms (pounds) of steamed rice in batches and places it on a cooling conveyor, after which the rice is vacuumed through a hose and transported to a separate room dedicated to koji cultivation.
“In the past, all of this was done by hand,” Takahashi said. “More jobs are accessible to women with the help of machines.”
Sake, or nihonsu, is made by fermenting steamed rice in koji molds, which converts the starch into sugar. Earlier this month the ancient brewing technique was recognized under UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage.
As a child, Takahashi was not allowed to enter the brewery owned by his family. But when she turned 15, she was given her first tour of a brewery and became fascinated by the fermentation process.
“I saw these bubbles. It was fascinating to know that those bubbles are the work of microbes that you can’t see,” said Takahashi, who was of alcohol drinking age at the time. “It smelled really good. I thought this wonderful aromatic sake could be made from rice and water. So I thought I’d try making it myself.
She earned a degree in fermentation science at Tokyo University of Agriculture. After graduation, he decided to return home to become a master brewer. She trained under her predecessor for 10 years, and at the age of 34 became a toji in his family brewery.
As the brewery enters the winter peak season, Takahashi oversees a team of seasonal workers and ramps up production. It is labor-intensive work, transporting and rolling large quantities of heavily steamed rice, and mixing thousands of liters (hundreds of gallons) of wine. A master brewer must have the knowledge and skill to carefully control optimal koji mold growth, which requires round-the-clock monitoring.
Despite the intensity, Takahashi manages to encourage collaboration at the brewery, meeting with the team to mix koji rice by hand in a hot, humid room.
“I was taught that the most important thing is to get along with your team,” Takahashi said. “The general saying is that if the brewing environment is stressful, the sake will be harsh, but if things are going well in the brewery, the sake will be smooth.”
The inclusion of women plays an important role in the survival of the Japanese sake industry, which has steadily declined since its peak in the 1970s.
Consumption of home brews has declined, while many small breweries struggle to find new master brewers. According to the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association, total production today is about a quarter of what it was 50 years ago.
To stay competitive, Koten is one of many Japanese breweries trying to find a wider market both domestically and abroad.
“Our main product has always been dry sake, which local people continue to drink regularly,” said Isao Takahashi, Takahashi’s older brother, who is in charge of the business side of the family operation. “We are now also looking for higher value sake.”
He supports his sister’s experiments – every year she creates a limited-edition series, Mie Special, to take out their signature dry product.
“My sister would say she wanted to try to make a lower alcohol content, or she wanted to try new yeasts — all kinds of new techniques were coming through her,” he said. “I want to make my sister what she wants, and I want to do my best to sell it.”
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