Watanabe Hōrai Zōmatsuri Chūshi Zannenkinen Sake

Watanabe Hōrai Zōmatsuri Chūshi Zannenkinen Sake (渡辺酒造 蓬莱 蔵祭り 中止残念記念酒) is a limited edition of regular sake only available at the local spring kura festival. The festival was cancelled during the coronavirus pandemic. Hōrai's Zomatsuri Chushi Zannenkinen Sake (literally "Kura Festival Cancellation Commemorative Sake") commemorates the cancellation. This Futsūshu is made of Hidahomare rice and employs the bag-hanging technique (袋吊り fukuro-tsuri), in which the mash is not squeezed but put in a sake bag, hung up and drained by gravity. It is unfiltered and cloudy.

The town of Furukawa in Hida, where the Hōrai Brewery is located, lies in the Furukawa Basin in the northernmost part of Gifu Prefecture, surrounded by the Northern Alps and the Hida Mountains, which are over 3,000 metres in altitude. "The townscape of Hida Furukawa has a splendid, graceful and ancient character. The town is not a tourist destination so that you can feel its unspoilt appearance, expression and even personality," said author Shiba Ryōtarō (司馬 遼太郎, 1923-1996) in his book 'Kaidō wo Yuku. Ichino-cho, with its rows of old merchant houses with protruding wooden latticework, has a calm atmosphere, and the Setogawa riverbank, with its rows of storehouses with white and black hip walls, still exudes a tranquil atmosphere.

In 1732, Watanabe Kyuemon (渡邉久右衛門) established a business under the name 'Aragiya' (荒城屋), while Kyuemon II started a money-changing business and also produced raw silk to sell to Kyōto. In 1870, the fifth generation of Watanabe started brewing sake, which became very popular. It is written that while singing Noh songs at a feast to enjoy sake, he got intoxicated by the indescribable droplets of gems. During the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa eras, he visited famous breweries nationwide and strived to learn sake brewing techniques. Wakayama Bokusui (若山牧水, 1885-1928) and other writers and artists visiting Hida loved it, and Hōrai gradually became known to sake connoisseurs. It has been highly praised as a representative sake of Hida, rooted in the local climate, and has been loved by locals for a long time as a part of the joy of life with seasonal ingredients.