Confucius nailed that one. The only way to truly understand how Sake is made. Is to make it. Luckily that’s what we’ve been doing for the last week. Here are some snapshots.
RICE A RONI IT AIN’T:
The Kura is a spa for rice. It incredible how pampered Japanese sake rice is. The richest women in the most expensive spa does not get this much attention.It is Milled (liposuction). Then washed in a machine( Jacuzzi?). Then washed by hand(Body Scrub?). Then steamed (steam room?). Cooled on a conveyer belt and declumped (massage). Then off to the moromi(cold pool) and on and on and on. Additional treatment include koji rice declumping ( massage in a sauna). But the treatments work. A simple grain of rice becomes sake, that elegant beautiful lady.
MOTTAINAI
Such a beautiful concept. Not wasting anything. Like water,rice,energy. But not in a bottom line way. It is about respect for everything. Everything is part of the chain. We’re all in it together.
HOW MANY JAPANESE SCHOOL CHILDREN ARE THERE?
I sit by Daimon front gate , have lunch and watch sunsets. It is a great view over a farmers fields with a train that runs through it. The city is in the distance and the mountains beyond. It’s a very pleasant place to sit and think. But a very peculiar think happens every day. A steady stream of schoolchildren ,dressed in uniforms with beautifully polished shoes, march by from 7am to 9pm. Any time of day.7 days a week. I talk to them in English. The boys shy away but the girls seem more interested in learning English. Most speak some English and seem happy to use it with an actual gaijin. They laugh,giggle and smile as they reenter the relentless stream of student. On there way to where ever.
A GIANT TREE WILL LEAD THE WAY
Above the office there stands a giant double trunked Meta Sequia. It was planted after world war 2 in an effort to regreen Japan. Daimon father planted it. When we arrived it seemed dead. Just a black shape against the sky. But the weather has been picture perfect. And now it has beautiful fine green needles.We use the tree as a landmark to lead us back to the Kura. Like this session intern ,the tree is from united states, and we both started the week in the dark. But now after a week of making sake we too have bloomed.