By YUSUKE HOSHINO/ Staff Writer
January 9, 2023 at 07:30 JST
Otokoyama Honten President Akihiko Sugawara, left, helps his workers move bottles of premium sake for aging in the abandoned Shishiori gold mine in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, on Nov. 10. (Yusuke Hoshino)
KESENNUMA, Miyagi Prefecture--A long-established sake maker here will learn later this year if it struck gold with its new way of storing 1.8-liter bottles of its premium product.
The company, Otokoyama Honten, has aged bottles of sake on the seabed but decided last year to try storing them in a disused gold mine instead. The bottles will go on sale this fall.
Its president, Akihiko Sugawara, 60, came up with the idea to celebrate the 110th anniversary of company’s founding.
The Shishiori gold mine, located in a hilly region in the northern part of the city, closed in 1971.
It was a major source of gold production during the Meiji Era (1868-1912) and is famed for the discovery of a “Monster Gold” nugget weighing 2.25-kilograms that was 83 percent pure gold.
Sugawara took note of the fact that the temperature in mine remains around 10 degrees year-round, making it an ideal environment for the preservation of sake.
On Nov. 10, the president joined workers to shift 110 1.8-liter “issho-bin” bottles of “tokubetsu junmai-shu” (special pure rice sake) into the former mine, placing them on platforms set up about 20 meters from the entrance.
They left the mine after locking the sturdy gate.
Workers will check the aging condition of the sake on a regular basis before putting the bottles on sale in fall 2023.
Part of the proceeds will be donated to help cover operating costs of a museum dedicated to the mine’s history.
“I think it will develop a mellow flavor,” Sugawara said. “I hope it will contribute to the promotion of the gold culture of Michinoku (the Tohoku region).”
The company has made use of local resources for its sake production for the past 15 years or so, for example, by aging bottles of its product at sea.
The company’s headquarters were registered as a tangible cultural property by the central government.
But much of the building was washed away by towering tsunami generated by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, and only the third floor remained.
The structure was rebuilt in summer 2020.
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