Jikon

Kiyasho Shuzo was founded in 1818 on the Hase road that linked Nara and Kyoto to Ise. The name Kiyasho remembers a timber merchant’s house. The Iga basin around Nabari is a rice country: stable rain, cool nights, and water from the Nabari River.

而今 (jikon) is a Zen word: to inhabit the present without clinging to past or future. Sixth-generation Tadayoshi Onishi returned to the brewery and, in 2004–2005, gave that name to the sake he brewed himself. The older house brand Takasago remains in the family; Jikon is the contemporary voice.

Bottles are often labelled by rice and village — Yamada Nishiki, Omachi, Aiyama, Akitsu — rather than by a single flagship. Production is small. The glass tends to be polished, aromatic, and tied to that year’s grain. On the KOKOMII shelf now: Tokujo Omachi, Hakutsuru Nishiki, Asahi, Senbonnishiki, Hattan Nishiki nama, Yamada Nishiki, Omachi nama, a tokubetsu junmai, and nigori.