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[Wine in Japan]

Kokura Castle, a symbol of Kitakyushu City, still retains its stone walls called "nozurazumi," in which hewn stones are not used. Tadatoshi Hosokawa, the second lord of the Kokura Domain in Buzen Province, once ruled this area and produced wine made purely in Japan. This is said to be the oldest recorded wine production in Japan.

The ingredients for the wine were mountain grapes called "garami" and black soybeans. It is believed that black soybeans, which promote fermentation, helped the fermentation of "garami," which has little sugar content. This wine was used as a medicinal wine for Tadatoshi, who was prone to illness since his childhood. There is a record that for four years from 1627 to 1630, he ordered his vassals who possessed the imported Nanban technology and medicinal wine-making skills to prepare and produce wine every year.

In the first place, wine was first introduced to Japan in 1549 when Portuguese missionary Francisco Xavier brought it as a gift, symbolizing the blood of Christ and to be drunk for baptism. Since then, wine has been imported from Western Europe as a valuable luxury item and gift.

At the same time as the introduction of wine, glassware as containers was also introduced to Japan by Christian missionaries. Founded in 1899, Hirota Glass is one of the oldest glass manufacturers in Japan, and continues to produce glassware that is both traditional and contemporary.

When you touch the history of the things around you, you realize that your life itself is a part of a long history, which is very mysterious.

Please enjoy a special glass of wine with a glass filled with techniques and aesthetics that have been carefully passed down through history.

Hirota Glass's Sori Yanagi Wine Glass
https://www.shokunin.com/en/hirota/wine.html

References
https://www.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/daigakujouhou/kouhou/pressrelease/2018-file/release180402.pdf
https://www.alterna.co.jp/31568/
https://museum.kirinholdings.com/person/wine/01.html
http://www.takizawashoten.jp/14542923078252