Junmai dedication sake for the harvest ceremony

The Niiname ceremony is a court ritual in which the Emperor presents the new grains harvested that year to the gods of heaven and earth as an offering of thanksgiving, and eats the grains himself as a gift from the gods. The ceremony is held every year on November 23 at Shinkaden, located near the three main shrines of the Imperial Palace, and is also held at shrines throughout Japan on the same day.

The first Niiname ceremony held after a new emperor accedes to the throne is a once-in-a-lifetime event, the Daijyo ceremony. For Emperor Meiji’s Daijyo ceremony in 1871, Kofu City in Yamanashi and Kamogawa City in Chiba were chosen as the places to offer sacred rice fields to grow sake rice for the ceremony. We also had the great honor of serving as the Emperor’s residence during his tour in 1880, and supplying gravel from Hakushu town to Meiji Shrine. Shichiken has been offering white sake brewed with rice harvested in the sacred rice field since the Niiname ceremony in 2020.

Relationship between Meiji Shrine, Shichiken, and Hakushu

Meiji Shrine, Shichiken, and the town of Hakushu are connected by many ties. On June 22, 1880, Emperor Meiji stayed overnight at the main house of the Kitahara family when he made a tour of Yamanashi, Mie, and Kyoto. Local elementary school students and adults alike have collected gravel from the Jingu River in Hakushu-cho for use in the grounds of Meiji Shrine; this gravel has been used at the shrine from the time of its founding until the present.

As the sacred rice fields to grow sake rice for Emperor Meiji’s Daijyo ceremony, the Kamiishida district of Kofu City in Yamanashi and Kamogawa City in Chiba were chosen. In anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the shrine’s establishment, we began a project to dedicate rice and white sake brewed from the rice grown in the sacred rice fields. Since this year, our white rice will be offered to Meiji Shrine as the official white sake for the annual Niiname ceremony in November.