BREWING SAKE
& SDGs
BREWING SAKE & SDGs


Sake brewing is SDGs!
Sake brewing, which has a long history, is a truly “sustainable” industry that has inherited the spirit of Japanese manufacturing culture and continues to this day. In the sake brewing process and the relationship with surrounding industries and regions, there are various ingenuity and wisdom of coexistence with nature. At the Hyogo Sake Brewers Association, we will learn from the spirit and efforts of the "SDGs" that our predecessors have cultivated, and will continue to work on the "SDGs" for the next generation.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs:Sustainable Development Goals) are 17 international goals for sustainable development that were unanimously adopted by member states at the United Nations Summit in September 2015.
Sake is a sustainable product
Sake brewing has been carried out by circulating the local environment and economy as a recycling-oriented industry, from the procurement of raw materials through the brewing process to the utilization of waste. While changing with the times, the sustainable, recycling-oriented spirit cultivated by our predecessors continues to live on in sake brewing today.

-
1.Material
Sake is made from only the water and rice that can be harvested in the land, and has been brewed with a taste that matches the food of each region. By buying rice grown by local farmers, turning it into sake, and having people buy the sake, the local economy circulates.
-
2.Brewing process
Sake has been made by making good use of the power of nature. Not only is sake itself a product that utilizes the power of fermentation by natural koji mold, but the power of nature is also used in the utensils.
-
3.Utilization of waste
Others have also used things that are unnecessary for sake, which are born during the sake brewing process. For example, the rice straw produced during the rice harvesting process can be used for straw sandals and New Year's decorations, and the "sake lees" produced during the brewing process can be used for amazake (sweet sake) and kasujiru. It has been utilized so as not to throw it away as much as possible.
-
4.Symbiosis with nature
To make delicious sake, you need delicious rice and water. The natural environment in which the rice is grown and the water used for sake brewing, represented by Nada no Miyamizu, have been carefully protected to this day through the cooperation of people involved in agriculture, sake brewing, and the local community.
-
5.Harmonious coexistence with the local community
Sake breweries that use local ingredients to make sake that matches local food are a community-based industry. Local culture is created in various ways and blends into the local community.
Efforts for SDGs in “Hyogo Sake”
Each sake brewery, which is rooted in the region and has been brewing sake in the relationship with the surrounding industry, has therefore appreciated the blessings of the region and valued the connection with the local residents. Hyogo Prefecture, which is the birthplace of Japanese sake and has a long history as the origin of modern sake brewing, such as Itami Morohaku and Nadagogo, has long been engaged in various initiatives that can now be called “SDGs”.
-
walking with the community
In 1920, Mr. Kichizaemon Tatsuma (Tatsuma Honke) founded the ``Tatsuma Gakuin Koyo Junior High School''. In 1927, the former Nada Junior High School was established with the generosity of the Ryokano family and the Yamamura family.
-
Sake Brewing and Yashiro
A toji usually runs a farm in his hometown, and during the sake brewing season, he takes a brewery worker with him to live in a contracted brewery and undertakes sake brewing for one season. The interests of the brewery side, which suffers from a shortage of brewers only during the winter brewing season, were in common, and they were strongly tied to each other in a win-win relationship.
-
No waste of by-products
By-products created in the manufacturing process have been used without waste. For example, rice bran, which is shavings after rice polishing, is used as a raw material for rice bran pickles and livestock materials. Sake lees produced by squeezing sake from moromi have been used in cooking.
-
protect local nature
We have protected the paddy fields through contract farming (Muramai system) with brewer's rice production areas. In addition, each sake brewery operates sake brewing business while protecting the local natural environment, such as continuing to protect the water sources that are essential for sake brewing, such as Miyamizu of Nadagogo.
SDGs that Hyogo sake breweries are working on for the future
- ALL
- Yashiro
- Kakogawa
- Awaji
- Tamba/Sasayama
- Himeji
- Akashi
- Nadagogo
- Itami
- North Hyogo