Photo/Illutration Sake from the Muromachi Period has been re-created as "Kofuku-ji Tamon-in x Mizuhana 1568." It was created by a team including, from right, Myoshun Tsuji, Chobei Yamamoto and Kazuto Yamanouchi. (Photo taken by Kunihiko Imai)

A brewing company has teamed with a temple in Nara Prefecture to make and sell sake re-created from a roughly 450-year-old recipe recorded by medieval Japanese monks.  

During the Muromachi Period (1336-1573), sake brewing flourished at temples, and the Tamonin Diary, recorded by the monks of Tamonin, a sub-temple of Kofukuji temple, from 1478 to 1618, contains many accounts of the brewing processes of the era.

It is this source that Yucho Shuzo Co, a sake brewery in Gose, Nara Prefecture, and the Jojoin branch of Kofukuji temple, turned to for a taste of history.

While other sake brands may rely on the latest technology, “Kofukuji Tamonin x Mizuhana 1568” is part of a series made using ancient techniques described in historical documents.

For this particular brew, the two collaborators referred to the monks’ diary entries from 1568 to re-create the sake of the Muromachi Period.

The accounts from that year show that sake fermentation was a three-stage process, much as it is today.

“Perhaps the manufacturing process of today’s clear sake was established around this time at temples in Nara,” said Chobei Yamamoto, head of Yucho Shuzo brewery.

The company previously produced Mizuhana 1568, another sake based on the Tamonin Diary. However, their latest sake uses groundwater pumped up from a branch of Kofukuji temple, and, just as in ancient times, the sake is prepared in earthenware pots to faithfully capture the flavor of the original.

“It turns out that this sake offers a natural sweetness generated by rice and ‘koji’,” said Kazuto Yamanouchi, the head brewer.

Myoshun Tsuji, head of Kofukuji Temple’s Jojoin branch, who also participated in the brewing process, said, “I hope this will be the first step for Nara to gain wider recognition as the birthplace of clear sake.”

The sake is sold in light-blue 500-ml Mino ware bottles, with a matching sake cup for 13,200 yen ($88.50), including tax.

A total of 352 bottles are on limited sale at Kofukuji temple’s Kokuhokan (National Treasure Hall) in Nara.

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