| History and philosophy of the brewery |
Kiyasho Brewery was founded in 1818 on the “Hase Kaido” road connecting the cities of Nara and Kyoto to Ise Jingu Shrine. It is reported that our ancestors emigrated from the city of Imabari at the beginning of the Edo era, following the samurai clan of the “Todo”. The brewery was originally a timber business, hence the name “Kiyasho”, which is clearly reminiscent of wood in Japanese. The Iga Basin, located 150 m above sea level, is in the centre of the Kii Peninsula. The region has long been famous for its rice, due to the stability of rain precipitation and the large temperature difference between morning and evening. The brewing of its sake also benefits from the pure water in the basement coming from the Nabari River, at the top of the Kizu Basin, which joins the Yodo River. Tadayoshi Onishi, the 6th generation brewer, returned to the brewery in 2004 and named his sake “Jikon”, a name inspired by a saying of Zen Buddhism meaning “to fully experience the present moment, without worrying about the past or the future”. |
