“Hokusai Asemblage 2019” is launching today.

Like Hokusai Assemblage 2018, Hokusai Assemblage 2019 Red and Blue are exciting new sake blends, to be launched by Sake Experience Japan on November 1st, 2019. This year, we produced a blended sake at each of two sake breweries. These both have attractive new flavors that will fascinate sake connoisseurs and newcomers alike, both in Japan and abroad.

Hokusai Assemblage 2019 Red

Central to the quality of any sake is the source of its water. The Mt Fuji waters used for Hokusai Assemblage 2019 Red have been filtered by nature for a century, achieving exceptional purity. This sake is blended from three different types of sake produced in Fujitasakago Sake Brewery. Fujitakasago Sake Brewery was founded in 1830 and is known as the leader of Yamahai-moto. It is famed for the number of sake masters (toji) it has contributed to the Japanese sake industry.

The two undiluted Yamahai style sakes release the gentle Ginjo aroma with two different types of body complexity. The aged sake (Koshu), which has not been sold in any market, is added to perfect the blend.

After blending, the sake releases the elegant aromas of white lily and peach and it carries a three-dimensional, conspicuous complex structure with attractive length.

Hokusai Assemblage 2019 Blue

This sake is blended using four different types of sake produced by Ide Sake Brewery. This sake brewery is situated at an altitude of 860m and is the only brewery in Yamanashi Prefecture can use water from Mt Fuji.

This water takes almost 80 years to penetrate the strata of volcanic bedrock. In addition to the purity of the water, the high altitude alters the barometric pressure which adds another unique element to the sake. Aromatic, sophisticated sake and rich-bodied sake are blended with the extremely sensitive aged-sake. This aged sake has been matured for over 20 years in the naturally temperature-controlled cellar under the volcanic bedrock. It releases a rich aroma of as ripe melon and ripe pear, with a sensitive umami taste and elegant length.

Naming

Although the participating breweries are located in different prefectures, both Fujitakasago and Ide Sake Breweries draw their water from Mt Fuji. Hokusai, famed for his depictions of water, has always been associated with both water and Mt Fuji. Hokusai sometimes drew Mt Fuji in red and blue, so we honored his aesthetic for both name and bottle color, with the blue for Yamanashi and red for Shizuoka Prefecture.

Packaging

The packaging artwork used is from his “Dotouzu” (“Onami” and “Menami” ceiling panels for a festival cart). We combined the two waves from these artworks to allude to the blending. In the Hokusai Assemblage logo, Japanese hiragana characters (shown in darker lettering below) spell out Hokusai (ほくさい) within the English letters of the same word.  This kind of hidden puzzle is common in his artwork.

Onami/男浪

Menami/女浪

Product Information