What is REIKYO?

A supreme bottle created by the strong passion to thrive always for the best
First & only application of 0% rice polishing ratio
Extremely rare: limited to 666 bottles sent to overseas
Winner of the IWC2022 “SAKE Category” trophy

STRENGTHS 01

A supreme bottle created by the strong passion to thrive always for the best

The top-quality sake “REIKYO” is the latest release from the Niizawa Brewery, which has continued to produce spectacular sake, including being served at the 2010 Grammy Awards and winning the Platinum Award in the Junmai Daiginjo category at the MILANO SAKE CHALLENGE 2019.

“We make delicious sake!”

In pursuit of this goal, the brewery has been looking deeper into the abyss of sake than any other brewery. We aimed for “the best” with the pure love of sake.

As a result, the brewery arrived at the world’s only “0% rice polishing ratio”. This fact makes “REIKYO” the most exclusive sake in Japan.

STRENGTHS 02

First & only application of 0% rice polishing ratio

Sake with a rice polishing ratio of 50% or less is called “Daiginjo” and is considered a high-class sake.

Polishing is the process of polishing rice.

By carefully polishing the rice without damaging the core of the rice, it is possible to bring out the flavor of the rice itself. With “REIKYO” the taste of the rice is brought out to the limit by realizing a “polishing ratio of 0%”.

What does “0% polishing ratio” mean?

To be precise, the polishing ratio is 0.85%. In other words, 99.15% of the entire rice is polished away and only the remaining 0.85% is used to brew sake. The lower the polishing ratio, the more vulnerable the rice becomes, and polishing requires a high level of skill and time.

The rice is polished to the highest level in Japan, which is possible only at the Niizawa Brewery, which has its own state-of-the-art rice polishing machine that makes full use of diamond rolls.

The rice is polished carefully and slowly over an endless period of 5297 hours (221 days), resulting in pure white rice as small as sand.

STRENGTHS 03

Extremely rare: limited to 666 bottles sent to overseas

Only 666 bottles are distributed outside of Japan, with very limited number of retail shops carrying it. A bottle that is extremely hard to come by! The attention to detail extends to the bottle and hand-made box of REIKYO.

When you open the wrapped, luxurious, vermilion-colored box, you will see an unprecedented wooden box. You will be thrilled to see it open, step by step, making a pleasant sound as it does so.

This one-of-a-kind wooden box is handmade one by one by Daisuke Iwamoto, a traditional craftsman of Tosa Kumiko, and only three boxes can be made per day.

REIKYO is a first-class product not only in taste but also in appearance, and deserves to be yours with the soul of various craftsmen!

STRENGTHS 04

Winner of the IWC 2022 “SAKE Category” trophy

REIKYO was selected as a trophy winner in the SAKE category of the IWC (International Wine Challenge), the world’s most prestigious wine competition, with only 32 out of 1732 brands being selected.

At the IWC, sake is given four ratings according to the results of the judging: a gold medal, a silver medal, a bronze medal, and a competition recommended sake.

Among the gold medal winners, as the best sake the trophy was awarded to REIKYO.

The ultimate taste of polished rice

The more rice is polished away, the more elegant the sake becomes and expresses itself with fruity aromas produced by the yeast during fermentation.

REIKYO is made without using yeast that produces fruity aromas in order to bring out the true flavor of the rice.

The flavor, which is achieved through a meticulous brewing process and ice aging at minus 5 degrees Celsius, is as clear as can be.

The gentle aroma of grapes and strawberries, and the velvety, moist attack that lights up the palate like fireworks, then fades away instantly, leaving a long, lingering finish.

REIKYO Tasting Chart

Product name and volume	REIKYO -Absolute 0- 500ml
Brewery	Niizawa Brewery Co. (Miyagi)
Alcohol percentage	16%
Rice used	Kura-no-Hana (contract rice grown in Miyagi Prefecture)
Polishing ratio	Less than 1% (0.85%)
Recommended serving temperature	Leave it for a few minutes after taking it out of the refrigerator to reach about 10°C (50°F). After that, let it air out in a glass to raise the temperature and enjoy the evolving flavors.
Recommended serving vessel	Large wine glass
Food pairing	Fatty white fish sashimi, seasonal shellfish, beef tongue, vichyssoise, blue cheese, melon, etc.

The Story of REIKYO’s Birth

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On March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake hit the brewery. The brewery was completely destroyed and most of the sake bottles were lost.

The brewery had to make an ultimate choice: rebuild, relocate, or close the business.

The brewery owner Mr. Niizawa, faced with the ultimate choice, relocated the brewery to an inland location in Miyagi Prefecture (Kawasaki, Shibata), even though he was burdened with a large amount of debt. He was able to restore sake production within the same year.

As the earthquake disaster prompted him to take up the challenge of brewing sake beyond the limits, he began to receive worldwide reputation for his sake with a rice polishing ratio of 7%, which was made possible by his highly refined rice polishing technology.

Mr. Niizawa’s passion to further evolve the rice polishing technology and “Create the No. 1 sake!” led to the birth of REIKYO.

In 2018, Mr. Niizawa released REIKYO. The world’s first sake with a rice polishing ratio of 0%, in accordance with the Alcohol Tax Law of the time (the decimal point of rice polishing ratio can be rounded down).

Then the National Tax Agency took issue with the “0%” notation, and on July 1, 2019, the Sake Tax Law was amended to change the notation to “less than 1%”.

As the “sake that changed the law”, REIKYO has been released every year since then on July 1, the date of the revision of the Alcohol Tax Law.

“In our quest to become the world’s best at rice polishing, we have reached our final limit.”

Says Mr. Niizawa of Niizawa Brewery, the brewer of REIKYO. The road to producing REIKYO was a series of hardships. The Niizawa Brewery was founded in 1873. It was once known as the favorite sake of the poet Bansui Doi, but when the fifth generation brewer, Mr. Niizawa, returned to the brewery, it was second from the bottom in the prefecture’s sake competition.

As the business continued to deteriorate, Mr. Niizawa decided to become the master brewer himself.

Armed with his excellent sense of taste, which had won numerous sake-tasting competitions since he was a student at Tokyo University of Agriculture, he launched “Hakurakusei,” which is said to be the ultimate food sake, and rebuilt the brewery, which was on the verge of going out of business.

However, the brewery was completely destroyed in the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. Nevertheless, thanks to Mr. Niizawa’s indomitable spirit and the help of many volunteers, the brewery was relocated to Kawasaki, Shibata, and miraculously recovered by the end of the same year.

In 2016, Atago No Matsu won first place in Japan’s largest sake tasting competition, the SAKE COMPETITION, and was crowned the best in Japan. Currently, Ms. Watanabe, the youngest female master brewer in Japan, who was 22 years old at the time, is striving to further improve the quality of the sake.

We interviewed Mr. Niizawa, who overcame various hardships to continue to produce a number of beautiful sake products, including REIKYO.

Today, the Niizawa Brewery boasts top-level brewing techniques, having won numerous awards both in Japan and abroad, but in the past their sake’s reputation was not really good. While attending the Tokyo University of Agriculture’s Department of Brewing and Fermentation, Mr. Niizawa met various famous brewery owners from around the country at university and realized that his brewery’s sake was by far the worst.

He asked himself, “Is it really so hard to be proud of something just because you make something that doesn’t taste good?”

This once painful thought has now become the driving force for him to continue producing delicious sake that customers can enjoy with peace of mind.

“Why don’t you taste only the core of the rice?”

Usually in elegant Daiginjo sake the fruity aroma derived from yeast is brought out. However, Mr. Niizawa has made it possible to focus on the original flavor of the rice and “taste only the core of the rice” by not using aroma-producing yeast.

The more polished the rice is, the cleaner the flavor tends to be. After more than 10 years of trial and error, they have created a sake that is transparent, but with the sweetness of the center of the rice fully expressed.

We will continue to deliver REIKYO with Mr. Niizawa’s passion.

01 / 09

REIKYO for your “special day”

REIKYO will vividly color your truly precious moments.
Memories that will never fade away.

REIKYO Shop Page

REIKYO – Absolute – 500ml
385,000 Yen (incl. tax)

The right moments to enjoy REIKYO

Reward yourself
A gift with impact
On a truly important and special day

Reward yourself
A gift with impact
On a truly important and special day

An important life milestone
Successful completion of a project
For your birthday celebration

A reward for top achiever. An exclusive bottle for winners.
The luxurious bottle that emerges from the hand-crafted Kumiko box will create the most wonderful moment.
From the moment you hold it in your hands, you will feel the weight of a king, which will further elevate your dignity.

To a kind business partner
For that person for whom you want to express your sincere appreciation
For that sake lover to whom you are indebted

For important people you want to give the best gift.
Because REIKYO is the symbol of “No.1”, it can make a big impact on that special someone.
REIKYO will encourage a strong bond between you and your important person.

To celebrate wholeheartedly at a wedding
To celebrate the birthday of a loved one
To celebrate the success of a business

Grasp the moment and make your “special day” a time you will never forget.
Why not forget your worries and busyness and share that taste of the moment with your loved ones?
The beauty, taste, and rarity of REIKYO will make it a symbolic bottle for an important anniversary.

Sakura Sake Shop’s Commitment

Thorough quality control at -5°C

Arrhenius’ Law, which states that the rate of chemical reactions speeds up at higher temperatures and slows down at lower temperatures. This also applies to sake.

High storage temperatures cause rapid chemical changes in the components of sake, resulting in deterioration of the flavor. In other words, in order to preserve the original flavor of sake, it is necessary to store sake at the lowest possible temperature before the sake begins to freeze. That temperature is minus 5 degrees Celsius.

+ MORE
”Sake Sheet” for a deeper taste of REIKYO

REIKYO comes with a detailed commentary called the “Sake Sheet”.

Even if you drink the same sake, the taste and impression will be completely different when you drink it while listening to a professional’s explanation. We always visit sake breweries. This is so that we can tell you what kind of people make the sake and with what kind of passion.

We want to make the time you and your loved ones spend with us more enjoyable. This is why we created the Sake Sheet. It is filled with many moving stories, such as the background of the sake’s production, the brewer’s hardships and joys, how to taste the sake, and how to pair it with food.

+ MORE

Frequently Asked Questions about REIKYO

Q
What is the shipping process?

A
After you have purchased the sake on our online store, we will use an international logistics company to deliver the sake to your door step. Depending on the country, usually the shipping and custom clearance takes about 3-7 days. Please note that there might be customs & import fees to be paid on arrival. The list of countries we currently ship to you can find here.
Q
How should I store it?

A
Always store in the refrigerator. Ideally, we recommend storing it at -5°C. This is because it allows you to fully enjoy the flavor intended by the brewer.
Q
How long can it be stored? Can it be aged?

A
It is difficult to say, since the speed of deterioration varies depending on the temperature, light, and vibration at which the product is stored. However, as a general guideline, we recommend that if stored in a refrigerator, the sake should be consumed within 2-3 months after purchase. If stored at minus 5 degrees Celsius, it can be enjoyed longer, but since sake is a luxury item, the best time to drink it depends very much on your preference. Of course, it is designed to age for a long time, so we believe that one way to enjoy sake is to store it to see how it will taste 10 to 20 years from now.
Q
What glasses do you recommend?

A
We recommend a large wine glass, such as a Burgundy glass, so that you can pick up the elegant aroma of the sake and enjoy it.
Q
What kind of food can it be paired with?

A
We recommend fatty white fish sashimi, seasonal shellfish, beef tongue, vichyssoise, blue cheese, melon, etc.
Q
The box is damaged. Can I exchange it for something else?

A
Please read our shipping and refund policy. As it is international shipping, we generally do not allow for returns.
Q
Can I make a recurring purchase?

A
Please contact us in advance with your desired number of bottles and frequency of delivery, and we will check our inventory to accommodate your needs.
Q
I am an importer. Can I purchase the product as a business?

A
Yes, we also export the sake for businesses. Please inquire using this contact form.

REIKYO for your “special day”

REIKYO will vividly color your truly precious moments.
Memories that will never fade away.

REIKYO Shop Page

REIKYO – Absolute – 500ml
385,000 Yen (incl. tax)

What is REIKYO?

A supreme bottle created by the strong passion to thrive always for the best

First & only application of 0% rice polishing ratio

Extremely rare: limited to 666 bottles sent to overseas

Winner of the IWC2022 “SAKE Category” trophy

A supreme bottle created by the strong passion to thrive always for the best

First & only application of 0% rice polishing ratio

Extremely rare: limited to 666 bottles sent to overseas

Winner of the IWC 2022 “SAKE Category” trophy

The ultimate taste of polished rice

REIKYO Tasting Chart

The Story of REIKYO’s Birth

REIKYO for your “special day”

The right moments to enjoy REIKYO

Sakura Sake Shop’s Commitment

Thorough quality control at -5°C

”Sake Sheet” for a deeper taste of REIKYO

Frequently Asked Questions about REIKYO

REIKYO for your “special day”