Nihon Chomiryo Tabi
The rice under the sushi is faintly red. Not many people, I suspect, know the reason for that color.
In Kamagaya, Chiba Prefecture, there is a vinegar maker that has been going since 1922. Kisaichi Jozo. The raw material is not rice but sake kasu, the lees left after sake is pressed. Those lees are rested for more than 3 years, then brewed into vinegar in cedar kioke (wooden barrels) together with alcohol.
Send air through the liquid, they say, and vinegar can be made in a short time. Why does a company that owns such a plant still keep its kioke? We asked Kazuyasu Kisaichi (私市一康), president.
From a sake shop in Asagaya to supplying sushi restaurants with vinegar
— I had heard of you as a vinegar maker of 100 years, but the beginning was a sake shop.
That's right. We started in 1922 as a sake shop in Asagaya (阿佐ヶ谷), in Tokyo.
— How did a shop selling sake come to handle vinegar?
We had a sushi restaurant among our customers. Back then we ordered in vinegar as well as sake and delivered it to them.
— You were going in and out of sushi restaurants, so vinegar came along with it.
At first, yes. But from there we specialized into the business of supplying vinegar to sushi restaurants.
— Then the war comes in between. I hear restaurants could not operate.
That's right. After the war, restaurants were banned from operating. But within that, sushi restaurants alone were permitted.
— Only sushi restaurants?
There was a system called consignment processing (委託加工制度). If a consumer brought in their own rice and you made it into sushi and sold it back to them, that was allowed. The reasoning was that you were only processing it.
— So sushi restaurants were the first to come back.
They were the fastest. Along with that, we restarted buying and selling vinegar. Having specialized in sushi restaurants worked in our favor, as it turned out.
— At that point you were not yet making it yourselves?
We bought from various vinegar makers. In 1955 we entered a partnership with Uzawa Suten (鵜澤酢店), founded in the Meiji era, and in 1960 we started manufacturing in-house.
— You moved over to the making side. What decided it?
Once the volume going to sushi restaurants grows, you cannot decide the taste by buying alone. Unless you make it yourself, you do not get the vinegar you had in mind.
— What became of Uzawa Suten afterwards?
They closed down, so we took over their kioke and their craftsmen.
— You inherited the barrels themselves.
Yes. Some of the barrels we have now are still the ones we took over from there.
— Were those barrels used with sushi restaurants in mind?
Uzawa Suten was a maker that brewed sake lees in kioke, but I don't think they made it with sushi restaurants in mind. It was my grandfather who went out and sold it to sushi restaurants intensively. That was how it went.
Why it had to be sake lees, and the day red vinegar disappeared
— Making vinegar from sake lees rather than rice. To us now it is an unexpected idea.
In terms of the industry's history, it is said that the company now known as Mizkan (ミツカン) developed sake-lees vinegar in the Edo period. Vinegar originally means making sake from rice, then turning that sake into vinegar.
— Without going through sake, you don't get vinegar.
You don't. But turning rice into sake cost a great deal of money.
— And so, sake lees.
Sake lees are what remains after the sake is pressed, so that part is already done. And although it is a by-product, it has savoriness and sweetness in it. That is why it became the best vinegar for sushi. It tastes good without using sugar. That is said to have driven its spread.
— Still, I have the sense that you don't often see red sushi rice in a neighborhood sushi restaurant now.
After the war, as anxiety about food safety spread over matters such as yellowed rice, colored sushi rice is also said to have fallen out of favor. A longing for white rice, the spread of rice vinegar, several factors overlapped, and the vinegar in sushi restaurants shifted from red vinegar to rice vinegar.
The yellowed rice affair: after the war, imported rice was found to be discolored by mold, and it became a public problem.
— Even so, Kisaichi Jozo went on supplying sake-lees vinegar to sushi restaurants.
Our sake-lees vinegar is a blend with rice vinegar. The color transfers only slightly to the sushi rice, but the scent of the kioke moves into the sake-lees vinegar, and that scent and taste matched sushi. So we have supplied this vinegar to sushi restaurants without a break.
— When did red vinegar start drawing attention again?
The 2010s. Freezing technology advanced, and so did aging as a way of preparing the fish. You age tuna and draw the savoriness out of it. Once you do, sushi rice made with ordinary rice vinegar loses to the fish and the balance goes.
— So the rice side had to change.
Yes. More chefs raised the proportion of sake lees, or came to prefer pure sake-lees vinegar made from the lees alone. That is still going on, and there is enough momentum that Edomae sushi may be redefined as sushi that uses red vinegar.
— Was that a movement only inside Japan?
No, it is coming from overseas, if anything. When Japanese chefs opened sushi restaurants abroad, red-vinegar sushi spread along with them. It caught fire in Hong Kong and spread from there around the world. This is a matter of the last 10 to 15 years.
— Customers overseas knew red sushi rice before people here.
That kind of thing is happening.
— Where does the difference from rice vinegar show?
In koku, the depth. The depth people taste as good is said to be the synergy of savoriness and sweetness. Sake-lees vinegar is richer in both than rice vinegar, so it overlaps with the sweetness of the fat in fish such as tuna, and the depth increases.
Sake lees: you cannot tell good from bad without waiting 3 years
— I hear you rest the sake lees for 3 years before brewing.
We rest it. We don't use it right after buying it.
— What happens to the lees over those 3 years?
The look changes first. At the start it is like white crumbs; what was solid loosens, and in the end it becomes a paste.
— That is where the red color is born.
Yes. The sake lees itself takes on color over time.
— How can you tell good sake lees from bad?
Selecting sake lees is extremely difficult. We judge it after 3 years have actually passed.
— You cannot tell without waiting 3 years?
We cannot. Our main sake lees comes from a sake brewery in Niigata (新潟), and that relationship goes back more than 30 years.
— How did it start with that brewery?
In the old days we scraped cheap lees together from all over, 2 tons here, 3 tons there. A researcher of ours at the time was a graduate of Niigata University, and someone from his year was a director at a sake brewery in Niigata. He suggested we try it once. It is a simple reason.
— Why do you think that sake lees suited you?
To finish a clean, light sake, it is pressed loosely so that no rough flavors come out. So plenty of the rice's sweetness and savoriness is left in it. We are looking into several other companies now to increase the volume, but it is not going well.
Vinegar made in 24 hours, and vinegar from kioke
— There are ways of making vinegar now that don't use kioke.
Aerated fermentation (通気発酵). The technology came to Japan from Germany, and it sends air into the liquid to ferment it all at once. With this you can brew in about 24 hours.
— 24 hours. With kioke I heard it was 2 months, 3 months.
Yes, there is no comparison there.
— Did the industry change when that arrived?
It changed. During and after the war, when materials were short, using rice as a raw material for vinegar was restricted and synthetic vinegar held much of the market. After that, aerated fermentation and other technologies spread, and production of brewed vinegar expanded greatly. There is also the advantage that the flavor of the raw material does not go through the changes a long fermentation brings. Our pure rice vinegar and pure apple vinegar are made by aerated fermentation too.
— You own equipment that makes vinegar in 24 hours and still keep the kioke.
That's right.
— To ask you plainly: could you not have decided to stop using kioke?
I think we could have. But in our case the flavor that comes from the kioke works together with the flavor of the sake lees, and that has contributed to Edomae sushi. If we did away with those barrels, we would be cutting away what has contributed.
— Is that something you can show in numbers?
We cannot. If you bring rationality to bear on something you don't understand, you end up cutting away what really matters without knowing it. Doing that unconsciously is what frightens me. This is exactly what onko chishin (温故知新), looking to the old to learn the new, means to me.
— Were you told by the previous generation to keep the kioke?
No. I think the previous generation kept them because they did not understand them.
— Not kept for a reason, then.
No. But as you talk with customers, the meaning gradually settles into you. And you pass that on to the next one. I feel that stopping the kioke in my generation must not happen.
— How do you divide the work between kioke and aerated fermentation?
We decide by the character of the product. When we want it clean, the aerated method; when we want a heavier scent, the surface fermentation method. Small lots go to surface fermentation as well. Sake-lees vinegar in kioke, kurozu (黒酢) and red vinegar are surface fermentation; white vinegar for blending, pure rice vinegar and pure apple vinegar are the aerated method.
The surface fermentation method: a way of making vinegar without stirring, letting the film of acetic acid bacteria on the surface of the liquid do the work. It is also called static fermentation (静置発酵).
— What are you watching during fermentation?
Regular sampling, and our own eyes. Sampling lets us graph the liquid temperature and the speed of oxidation, so we can follow how the fermentation is going. Along with that we judge the state of the bacterial film and its thickness, and open the lid of a barrel or take the film down.
— Take the film down?
When a thick film forms on the surface, oxygen runs short and the fermentation weakens. So we look at the state of it and take it down.
— How long until it is finished?
In winter the air circulates well, so the fermentation period is about 2 months. In summer the air stagnates and it can take 3 months.
A kioke lasts 70 years, then it is taken apart for another 30
— How many kioke are lined up in the storehouse?
About 30.
— How long does a barrel itself last?
Once a kioke is made, it lasts about 70 years. Over that time you tighten it against leaks, but at about 70 years you take it apart once and shave away the damaged parts. That is said to give it another 30 years or so, which comes out as "it will last 100 years." The barrel maker taught us that.
— Who do you ask to do the work?
In 2005 we were introduced to Fujii Seioketen (藤井製桶店) in Osaka and had all our barrels maintained. They take the kioke apart, dry them, shave the damaged places and reassemble them. It takes more than half a year. At that time we also had about 7 new barrels made.
— You send them out for half a year and they come back as they were?
It is not that 3 barrels' worth goes out and 3 come back; sometimes it becomes 2. The wood left over gets used at the next repair.
— If you bring in a new barrel, can you use it right away?
In this trade, makers basically don't buy brand-new wooden barrels. Many buy secondhand ones that have been worked hard at sake breweries and elsewhere. The reason is that the scent of a new kioke is far too strong, and they say you cannot settle it down without putting boiling water in and out about 50 times, over and over. We do something close to that, and only then can it be used for brewing.
— What happens if the scent is too strong?
Sometimes you don't get good vinegar. The scent compounds that move from the wood vary in strength and in kind, and the ones that match are what remain.
— How do you judge that?
We haven't experienced it ourselves. You do what your predecessors did, in the same way. That is one clue.
— If you do it the same way, is the method preserved?
I think that is still not enough. We still don't know why it is done that way. Doing it the same way while also thinking about new things as our own generation: only with both, I think, can we preserve it.
A banner for the next 100 years, made with the staff
— You marked your 100th anniversary in 2022.
We made our corporate philosophy, mission, spirit and slogan, together with the staff. I think we now have a banner to carry into the next 100 years. We brought in people from outside as well and put it into words.
— Your original management philosophy has a line saying we must not forget onko chishin. The same words came up twice in the story about the kioke.
They did. It says we always aim to make things with food education in mind, and that in practising it we must not forget onko chishin. We have not changed that part.
— The mission you set out is "Widen the world of food, deepen the flavor of life."
Yes. We also organized how we face our customers. For customers who enjoy food, "growing curiosity about food"; for everyone who works with food, "co-creation through sensibility and dialogue."
— Co-creation?
Our sensibility and a chef's sensibility are different. By multiplying each other's sensibilities and talking, we create together what we can do and what matters. A chef holds a direction, a way they want their own favorite taste to go. We make it possible for that individuality to reach the customer. I think that is the good part of it.
— You made a catchphrase as well: "A secret ingredient for life."
Our action guideline is "Kisaichi, the secret ingredient of challenge," and it comes from there. Interest in food (食への興味), strengths to draw on (活かす持ち味), examining what is taken for granted (常識を吟味), always keeping heart in it (常にこころ味), warmth toward people (人への情味), gratitude (ありがた味). We made every one of them end in the character for taste (味), to bring out what is ours.
— Besides sushi restaurants, I hear you have dealt with consumer co-ops for a long time.
I think passing on washoku (和食) culture, which here means making vinegar in kioke, is one basis of that business. Beyond that, I believe they recognize our manufacturing that uses no food additives in the raw materials, the reuse of containers, and our stance on disclosure.
Food education, and the taste handed to the next generation
— I read something you said, that children today dislike sourness.
On food education, I feel a mission to work for the passing on of washoku culture.
— What do you do?
We run classes regularly with nursery schools, making cottage cheese from vinegar and milk.
— Don't the children dislike the sourness?
They do. But I think that is less because it is sour than because they have got used to strong tastes. Sourness is a taste you take on through experience, so I think it is that they have little experience of it. Things made with the sweetness of sugar and umami seasoning, on the other hand, taste good. They taste good, but the taste is too strong.
— What happens when you get used to strong tastes?
When you eat washoku, you feel it is thin, that something is missing.
— And that is not just a matter of preference.
I don't think it is. Those children end up on the side that rejects washoku culture. I realized this is not good for passing the culture on.
— Not thin, but a different kind of depth.
Yes. In sushi, there is depth that comes not from sugar and monosodium glutamate but from the sweetness of the rice, the savoriness of the vinegar, and the sweetness and savoriness of the fish. If you can tell that difference, I think you grow into an adult who enjoys washoku without feeling anything is missing.
— Is there anything you especially want conveyed correctly in this article?
What the passing on of washoku culture needs, I think, is a balance of the five tastes (五味): sweetness, saltiness, sourness, bitterness and savoriness. Of these, sourness and bitterness are taken on through experience. So I want to be conscious of making those chances, so that children take on the five tastes.
— So "growing curiosity about food" connects to that.
It connects. There was a time when a customer came to see us out of the blue. Their father had run a sushi restaurant and had gone on using our vinegar all along. The restaurant had already closed, but it had a reputation for good sushi rice.
— Who was it that came?
The family of that sushi restaurant. The father had passed away, and his son was saying he wanted to eat his father's sushi rice. They came to ask whether we could help them reproduce it at home.
— Was the vinegar the father had used still being made?
It was. We have delivered the same thing to sushi restaurants without a break.
— Something used decades ago is still here.
It is. So we could hand over the very vinegar that father had used.
If you are choosing your first bottle
— One last question. For a reader who wants to know good vinegar but has no idea what to buy, which would be the first bottle?
"Kisaichi-su Kioke no Hitoshizuku" (私市酢 木桶の一滴), and "Umai Awasezu" (熟寝合わせ酢). The first two characters of that name (熟寝) are read "umai."
— Where is the difference between the two?
"Kisaichi-su Kioke no Hitoshizuku" is sake lees brewed in kioke, blended with rice vinegar. The ingredients are rice, alcohol, salt and sake. The acidity is 4.5%, so you can swap it in with the same feel as the vinegar you normally use.
— Straight in place of your usual vinegar.
Yes. For vinegared dishes and sushi rice of course, and a splash to finish a stir-fry makes the aftertaste lighter. There is also the use of pouring it over gyoza or karaage to cut the fat.
— And the other one, "Umai Awasezu"?
That one is a seasoned vinegar. It has sweetness and saltiness blended onto a red vinegar base, so you don't need to add sugar or salt. Mix about 30cc into one go (一合) of rice and that gives you sushi rice.
— The red sushi rice of Edomae, at home.
You can do it. Red vinegar goes with fatty things, so it is good not only with sushi but with meat as well.
The words onko chishin came up several times. Over the course of the interview it gradually became clear that this is not a story about treasuring old things.
This company also owns equipment that makes vinegar in about 24 hours. Its pure rice vinegar and pure apple vinegar are made there. The kioke taken over from a vinegar maker that closed down were all taken apart, shaved and reassembled once, in 2005, and about 7 new ones were brought in where they fell short. When they learned that the techniques for aging sushi fish had advanced, they changed the blend of their vinegar to match. In their 100th year, they remade the company's words together with the staff.
It is not that they take nothing new in. But before deciding what to change and what not to change, they first try to understand the older thing. While they do not understand it, they do not throw it away.
The founder and the previous generation both kept the kioke without being able to say why, we heard. The meaning of it came clear in the third generation, in conversations with customers. It took two generations to get there.
Sake lees rested more than 3 years, kioke taken apart once at 70 years, new barrels settled with boiling water about 50 times. Every one of them is for a taste that only comes out of spending time.
Put a bottle on your table and start with your usual vinegared dish.
Kisaichi Jozo Co., Ltd. 6-7-45 Higashi-Michinobe, Kamagaya, Chiba Prefecture Official site: https://kisa1.com Online shop: https://shop.kisa1.com/
Frequently asked questions
What is akasu, red vinegar, or sake-lees vinegar?
It is a vinegar made from sake kasu, the lees left behind after sake is pressed. Rest the lees for a long period and the color deepens, so the finished vinegar takes on a red tint as well, and in the world of Edomae sushi it has been called akasu, red vinegar. At Kisaichi Jozo the lees are rested for more than 3 years, then brewed in cedar kioke together with alcohol.
How do red vinegar and rice vinegar differ in taste?
According to Kazuyasu Kisaichi, the difference shows in koku, the depth. The depth people taste as good is said to be the synergy of savoriness and sweetness, and because sake-lees vinegar is richer in both than rice vinegar, it overlaps with the sweetness of the fat in fish such as tuna and the depth increases.
What is the difference between vinegar brewed in kioke and vinegar made by aerated fermentation?
Aerated fermentation sends air into the liquid to ferment it all at once, and can brew vinegar in about 24 hours. The surface fermentation method used with kioke does not stir at all; it lets the film of acetic acid bacteria on the surface of the liquid do the work, and it takes 2 months in winter, sometimes 3 months in summer. Kisaichi Jozo uses the aerated method for products they want clean and the surface method for products they want to give a heavier scent, choosing by the character of the product.
Can I make the red sushi rice of Edomae sushi at home?
Kisaichi Jozo's "Umai Awasezu" is a seasoned vinegar with sweetness and saltiness already blended onto a red vinegar base, so there is no need to add sugar or salt. Mix about 30cc into one go of rice and it becomes sushi rice.
