Yamamori Shuzo
"Preserving tradition while hoping you'll savor our concept series of new challenges"
6th-generation director, Takeshi Yamamori
Meiji 20 (1887)
Founded in Odaka, taking over a brewery built in the Edo period. The sake is carefully brewed inside a kura (酒蔵) that still preserves Odaka's old streetscape and time-honored atmosphere.
Interviewee: Director Takeshi Yamamori (hereafter "Yamamori")
Interviewer: bien — Ayako Yoshida (hereafter "bien")
bien: For 132 years since founding, you've kept sake making alive here in Odaka.
Yamamori: My father is the fifth-generation president, and I currently serve as a director.
bien: When did you enter the world of sake making?
Yamamori: I came back seven years ago, in 2012.
Before that, I was in sales at a computer systems company in Tokyo.
bien: What prompted you to return to the brewery?
Yamamori: A few years after moving to Tokyo, I came back to help with the open brewery.
At the open brewery, neighbors and people we've known for years
come to help out,
and without realizing I was the son,
they'd say things like, "This sake here is delicious! Go on, try it!"
and "I'm the one who built this building,"
and so on, just striking up conversation.
That's when I resolved to protect this delicious sake and this building from now on —
— and my heart was moved.
bien: You made a big decision in your early thirties.
Yamamori: I spent about three years thinking it over,
and with my wife's encouragement, I decided to take over the family business.
bien: That's reassuring, to have your wife's support.
How has it been actually working in the brewery?
Yamamori: It's a lot of fun. I'm close to consumers,
and hearing their impressions directly and feeling their reactions
is a real stimulus in my work.
bien: What's the happiest thing anyone has said to you?
Yamamori: It's always a joy to be told it's "delicious."
Oh, and my favorite is when someone says, "I love sake!"
It makes me want to keep making good sake!
bien: What's the hardest part of sake making?
Yamamori: There's the heavy labor starting early in the morning as I learn from my father,
but I don't really think of it as hard.
bien: That's wonderful!
On the flip side, what's the fun part — the part where you feel glad to be involved in sake making?
Yamamori: Getting to taste the finished sake before anyone else!
bien: Indeed! That's a privilege only kurabito (蔵人) get to enjoy!
What do you want to convey to consumers going forward as a kuramoto (蔵元)?
Yamamori: Rather than speaking to consumers directly, going forward,
through products in our concept series,
we want liquor stores to understand Yamamori Shuzo's vision,
and convey the brewery's background and the deliciousness of the sake
to consumers, spreading the word.
A brewery needn't be a sacred place;
it's good for it to be a place where people gather, but going forward our policy is to spread the kuramoto's image
in cooperation with the liquor stores who sell our sake.
bien: I see.
The same applies to communicating with people overseas — rather than selling the sake alone,
the brewery's concept and story become what matters.
Yamamori: Rather than the kuramoto acting as a spokesperson,
I want to convey the appeal of the brewery as a whole.
bien: Is that one reason you hold the brewery live events?
Yamamori: The brewery live shows might be a bit different.
The Midori Ward now has a population of 240,000.
The president started them with the wish that people would enjoy the local area more
and help liven it up.
A lot of general consumers come,
and from now on we hope liquor store owners will also come by
and get to know us.
bien: What's the origin of "Taka no Yume" (Hawk's Dream)?
Yamamori: It's the hawk of Odaka, of course,
and the name is said to come from the three things you're lucky to see in your first dream of the new year:
"1 Fuji, 2 hawk, 3 eggplant."
bien: What's your vision for the future?
Yamamori: First, cherish the local community.
We've been able to continue for over 130 years thanks to the community.
Building on that local foundation and developing it further through the concept series is,
I believe, my role.
bien: In recent years there have been more and more sake events,
and the kuramoto are all very busy.
Do you often go to the Kanto region, Yamamori?
Yamamori: I like Tokyo, but I don't go often.
I treasure our relationships with the liquor stores who understand and spread the quality of our distinctive sake,
so I'm fine with it growing gradually.
Cherishing the local community is the fundamental premise.
bien: We look forward to seeing you preserve the traditional brewing handed down over the years,
while taking on new challenges going forward.
Thank you very much.
