Rice from shrine's farm prepared for sake brewing

A brewery in Chiba Prefecture, neighboring Tokyo, has begun making sake ahead of the New Year, using rice harvested in a farm owned by a Shinto shrine.

The brewery was established nearly 250 years ago.
For the first time this year, it is making sake, or Japanese rice wine, jointly with the Tamasaki Shrine.

On Saturday, a ceremony was held in an old cellar to prepare for sake-making. Brewers and 15 local people used oar-like sticks to mix 80 kilograms of rice and 15 kilograms of koji mold in a barrel and start the fermentation process.

The barrel is large enough to produce about 300 bottles of sake, and some of it will be offered to visitors who come to the shrine during the New Year holidays.

A man who participated in the ceremony said he hopes the sake will help attract many visitors to the town.

An executive of the brewery, Takako Akiba, said she hopes visitors to the shrine will savor the taste of the special sake