Visitors to Japan for the Olympics or any other reason will find a trip to Niigata Prefecture on the western coast of Honshu island an excellent way to brush up on their knowledge of sake, the country’s revered rice based drink. While there they can also learn a little blacksmithing, relax in a local hot spring or visit Yahiko to see one of Japan’s most lovely Shinto shrines. Getting there takes just two hours by bullet train from Tokyo.

Agriculture is the main industry in Niigata – it’s the nation’s foremost grower of rice. Rice, rice crackers and sake are thus the key products from this region. Niigata is the third largest producer of sake in Japan and the focus here is on quality not quantity. Of the approximately 1,400 sake producers in the country, 98 are in Niigata.

I visited the historic stone walled Takarayama Sake Brewery while in the prefecture. Founded in 1885 and located on the foot of Tahozan mountain, its name in English means “treasure mountain”. Every year 16,000 visitors come from all over the country to take a tour of this sake brewery and learn about the process of making sake.

My group was fortunate to be led through the tour by Yukiko Watanabe, who with her husband owns the sake brewery. Watanabe, a beautiful senior citizen has glowing, smooth skin which she attributes to her unique sake-infused beauty technique. “I use sake instead of lotion on my face,” she told me. Spurred on by the notion of skin like hers, I purchased the prettily bottled sake she sells as a face tonic. After all, the sign in her sake shop said ‘Test on skin. If it doesn’t work, please drink.”

We were also lucky to start our tour just as buckets of hot rice were being taken from the steamers to a special room in the brewery called the koji muro. Koji mold (scientifically known as aspergillus oryzae) is at the very heart of the sake-brewing process. Koji is steamed rice that has had koji mold spores cultivated into it. It’s a crucial and tricky step that takes 40 to 45 hours.

The mold creates several enzymes as it propagates which in turn break the starches in rice into sugars that can then be fermented by yeast. The koji mold, yeast, water and rice are put into big tanks where the yeast then ferments the glucose into alcohol. Fermentation can take 20 to 45 or more days depending upon the type of sake being made.

There are a number of different styles and quality levels of sake. Top quality sake such as Daiginjo is fermented twice as long at a lower temperature than Junmai (pure) sake for example and is processed to remove more than half the external part of the grain.

As part of our educational tour, Watanabe let us taste rice after the koji ferment before the alcohol formation, and then fermented but unfiltered sake. We also sample a range of the brewery’s sakes including a very light and elegant one labelled “Secret”. It was a great and tasty learning experience. https://www.sake-tour.jp/takarayama/?hl=en

From there I went to Sanjo City, known as the ‘town of hardware’ since the 17th century in Japan. In the Edo era, they became famous for making Japanese nails. (These nails were used in ancient Japanese architecture and are still produced in Sanjo for the restoration of shrines and temples.) At Kaji Dojo, an artisanal blacksmith shop, I was able to sign up for a manufacturing experience of making my own paper knife.

Under the tutelage of a master blacksmith, I got to strike away at a heated European style nail and later a much harder Japanese nail to make two different paper knives. It was much harder and more involved than I could ever have imagined, and it was a blast. Another of the experiences they offer is knife sharpening where you can bring your own kitchen knife or purchased an unfinished one and finish the sharpening. https://kajidojo.com

After all that hard drinking and pounding, I enjoyed a long soak in an onsen bath at Yumotoya Onsen Ryokan, a traditional style Japanese inn where you sleep on mats on the floor of your room. Onsen are hot springs in Japan, generally mineral rich and considered to have therapeutic benefits. At most of the resorts they are open air and public. As people are required to be naked when they step into the waters, most have either separate times for men and for women or separate sections. I chose to pay a little extra for a private reserve room for my ‘birthday suit’ bathing.

The next day I spent a wonderful morning at Yahiko Shine which has a rich and long history. At the base of the sacred Mount Yahiko, it has a reputation for bringing good luck in matchmaking. It is also said that just visiting the shrine eases the tension of the mind and soul. No wonder it’s a popular place.

I entered through the vermillion gate and found many buildings and interesting sights. There was a deer park, a Japanese poultry house, sumo field, archery court, purifying station, sacred horse stable, music pavilion and a gorgeous worship hall. After exploring around, I took the cable car to the top of Mount Yahiko where there’s a viewing platform and restaurant. A further ten minute walk on, there’s a sanctuary where the spirits of the shrine’s god and goddess are said to live. It’s here people make a prayer for good fortune in romantic relationships.

My two day taste of Niigata gave me experiences of a lifetime.