Kinoshita Tamagawa Man-Eating Rock Tokubetsu Honjōzō Namazake

Kinoshita Tamagawa Tokubetsu Honjōzō Hitokuiiwa Namazake (玉川 特別本醸造 人喰い岩 生酒 Tamagawa Tokubetsu Honjōzō Hitokuiiwa Namazake) is made of Gohyakumangoku grown in Koyama Village, Kyōto Prefecture. It is named after a scary local legend, the Man-Eating Rock, and with sinister original artwork on the label, drawn by Sakane Katsusuke (坂根克介). The sake is made with rice grown in the same village as the brewery (and the dreaded rock), polished on-site to ginjō specification. Allegedly, sake professionals at a blind tasting event of Tamagawa's authorized dealers mistook the Hitokuiiwa for a daiginjō.

Here is what the brewery says about this limited sake:

Maybe the scariest label in the sake world, Man-Eating-Rock, in its regular form, is a dry sake, light by hefty Tamagawa standards, with a fruity core that expands within the palate's dryness. The unpasteurized interpretation is briefly available as a limited edition every year after that year's new sake is pressed. We make this with rice from the same village as the brewery, overlooked by the crag which gave its name to the product. The little extra nama zing in the mix works to bring the fruit to the fore, making for a zesty brew for which its fans wait devotedly every year.

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The Legend of the Man-Eating Rock

Long, long ago, in the land of Tango, there stood a mountain called Kabuto-yama. Within this mountain dwelled a fearsome creature known as the Man-Eating Rock, which devoured anyone who crossed its path. The Man-Eating Rock preyed indiscriminately upon woodcutters and villagers who ventured into the mountain, instilling terror in all who lived nearby.

One day, a young man entered the mountain and, by some twist of fate, befriended the monstrous rock. Trusting his newfound companion, the Man-Eating Rock revealed its sole weakness—it despised red clay. When the villagers learned of this secret, they gathered together and covered the rock in red clay. From that day forward, it is said that the Man-Eating Rock never ate another soul.

Kinoshita Shuzō, in Kōyama, Kyōtango, Kyōto Prefecture, was founded in 1842 by the fifth head of the Kinoshita family, Kinoshita Zenbei (木下善兵衛), who reportedly used the harvest from almost thirty hectares of rice fields and the copious spring water gushing from the mountain behind the brewery. The hereditary name Zenbei was passed down to the 6th and 7th generations. Then, the company was led by the 8th, 9th and 10th generations (Sentaro, Zenichiro and Juichi, respectively) before being handed on to Kinoshita Yoshito, the current president and the 11th in line.

The brand name Tamagawa can be translated as "Jewel River." The name is thought to refer to the Kawakamidani River, which flows by the brewery. The character 玉 (tama) means a jewel and has sacred implications in Japan's native Shinto . 川 (kawa or gawa in compound words) means river.

Kinoshita Shuzō is one of the few Japanese breweries with a foreign tōji, Philip Harper. Born in the UK, he graduated from Oxford University. He taught English under the JET programme until he discovered sake. He worked at Umenoyado Sake Brewery for ten years before taking and passing the Nanbu Tōji Association's qualification test in 2001, earning him the title of 'Tōji'. He was the first foreigner to become a toji (and the only one at the time). He then worked at Umenoyado Shuzō, Daimon Shuzō and other breweries before becoming tōji at Kinoshita Shuzō in 2008.

Kinoshita Yoshito gave him full responsibility for everything except following the locally favoured taste of regular sake and daiginjō. He immediately began producing kimoto sake, which does not use brewing lactic acid, and yamahai, which uses only natural yeast from the brewery. In addition to new sake types like 'Icebreaker' and 'Time Machine', Tamagawa's legacy is reflected in the sake he produces.

Along with the new master brewer, the brewery's logo was redesigned with an innovative design by Sakane Katsusuke to symbolise the new Tamagawa. It is now widely known as the 'Marutama mark' (丸玉マーク).