“Terroir Japonais”: Japan’s Sake Meets France’s “Vin Naturel” Philosophy

Nagayama Takahiro in front of his brewery. To the left of the noren curtain is a sugitama, a ball of cedar branches traditionally hung at the entrance of a sake brewery to mark the production of a new batch from the year’s rice harvest.

Casks of sake are placed with sheaves of locally harvested rice before the brewery’s altar.

The brewmaster poses in front of a rice weighing/packing machine, another rarity for a sake producer to own.