GOZENSHU Junmai Bodaimoto Nigori Light Nama Sake, 13%, 720 ml

The Gozenshu brewery (Tsuji Honten Co., Ltd.) was founded in 1804 in Katsuyama, Okayama, by Yahei Tsuji, a merchant who turned to sake brewing. From its earliest days, the company was chosen to supply the household of Lord Miura, the daimyo (Lord) of the province. Its sakes were then given the name "Gozenshu" - sake dedicated to the lord.
The sake was also greatly appreciated by local residents under the brand name "Manetsu".

Katsuyama is located in the Mimasaka region (the former name for northern Okayama), long known as «Umasake no Kuni» (literally translated as «the land of fine sake»).
With its cold climate, fine groundwater and good sake rice, Katsuyama offers an ideal environment for sake brewing. Indeed, these regional advantages helped forge Gozenshu's motto: «To be responsible for making the finest sake with local rice, water and true local craftsmanship.» Over the generations, this philosophy has always inspired brewers to strive to make the best sake without compromise.
Gozenshu sake embodies a clean taste, unlike sake produced in the southern part of Okayama. While sake from the south has a relatively sweet taste, Gozenshu's clean taste is what local drinkers have sought, largely because of the cold winters they must endure.
At Gozenshu, they have been eager to make junmai sake for more than four decades, long before the recent junmai trend emerged. It is safe to say that junmai accounts for around 70% of all their products.
In recent years, brewing has been led by Okayama's first female Tōji, master brewer Maiko Tsuji (the family's 7th generation), who inherited the position from her mentor Takumi Harada after his death in 2007. Harada was a well-known master who had worked for Gozenshu for more than 40 years. With Tsuji leading her team of young brewers, the Gozenshu brewery has been revitalised and continues to devote itself to the art of sake brewing.
The Tsuji family was also keen to pursue cultural activities during the Meiji and Showa periods. Since the family heads of the time were so-called culture enthusiasts, their brewery was visited by famous artists and writers such as Tekkan and Akiko Yosano (author / poet), Saishu Onoe (poet / calligrapher), and Hekidoto Kawahigashi (poet / essayist), to name but a few. Moreover, a giant of Japanese literature, Junichiro Tanizaki (also a sake enthusiast), wrote one of his major novels, The Makioka Sisters, while evacuated to Katsuyama during the Second World War. His temporary residence remains to this day and continues to attract visitors to the town.
In the recent past, the list of those who have fondly visited this brewery includes Tatsuya Naramoto (historian), Yasaburo Ikeda (scholar), Kiyoshi Atsumi (actor) and Rokusuke Ei (lyricist).
«Cultural exchange through the finest sake» is precisely what Gozenshu's history is made of. Everything has been made possible thanks to the sincere dedication of their ancestors, who passed on the true art of sake brewing and its culture.