About Toyo University Alumni Report:Sato Shuzou LLC, Executive Director Katsuya Sato

Sato Shuzou LLC, Executive Director
Katsuya Sato

Profile
2017 graduate, Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering Born in Saitama Prefecture. Executive Director of Sato Shuzou, a sake brewery founded in 1844 in Ogose, Iruma District, Saitama Prefecture. Sato is currently developing a new brand of sake as an industry-academia collaboration project with Associate Professor Hiroaki Minegishi of the Faculty of Science and Engineering. In February 2023, the brand new sake “Ogosebairin STY” was launched, created in collaboration with Toyo University and Sato Shuzou.

Please see the below link for more information on Ogosebairin STY. (English unavailable)
http://www.satoshuzou.co.jp/tayori02/?p=1051

 

I Want to Continue Our Family Tradition. I Decided to Continue Our Family Sake Brewery

It was around the time I was a high school student that I became fully aware that my family’s business was a sake brewery that had continued for generations. My parents told me I did not need to inherit the family business, so when choosing where to study, I had no intention of inheriting the family business. Therefore, I decided to study at the Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Toyo University, as I liked chemistry and living things.
Everything changed when I was in my third year of university. The Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 caused problems for the facilities at my family’s business, including exacerbating cracks in the storehouse, which was already in a state of deterioration and causing roof tiles to become dislodged. We held a family meeting, and we had to decide whether to close the company after continuing as far as we could with the current brewery or to rebuild the brewery with my elder sister and I taking over the company. My sister, who had been involved in sales and other activities at the company store at the time, wanted to continue the sake brewery. Also, even though I was only helping out at the store at the time, I strongly felt that I did not want to lose our long history and tradition that had been passed down this far, so I told my grandfather that I wanted to take over. So we rebuilt the existing brewery, and my sister became the first female toji* in Saitama Prefecture. At the same time, we hired younger kurabito*, and we launched a new Sato Shuzou, led by a new generation.
I joined after graduating from university. At first, I did not know how to do anything, but now I am involved with all areas of sake brewing, from brewing, to sales, marketing, and accounting. Sake brewing requires more physical work than one might imagine, such as carrying 600kg of rice in 20 bags of 30kg, but it also requires a high level of precision in temperature control and understanding the state of fermentation. As we brew in a small brewery, we are able to carefully manage the brewing process and pay attention to the details. This allows us to work each day to produce delicate sake.
*The person responsible for sake brewing at the brewery is called a “toji,” and the workers who brew sake under the supervision of the toji are called “kurabito”.

We Aim to Make Our Sake “Ogosebairin” Synonymous with Saitama Prefecture

During my time at university, I researched under Professor Ron Usami at a biological engineering lab that looks at microorganisms. Here, alongside research into my specialization, I was also involved in research into yeast fungi as part of my studies of sake. Sake is produced using the most complicated process of all alcoholic beverages. Even if you try to recreate the same sake, each sake may have a different appearance and flavor due to the action of the yeast, temperature settings, and weather conditions. I am applying what I was able to visually learn about the process of fermentation in the lab in sake brewing.
From my connections during my time at university, we have been able to realize sake development together with Toyo University as an industry-academia collaboration project. When Associate Professor Minegishi of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, who I had known since I was a student at Toyo University, asked if I wanted to make sake together, I was happy because this would allow me to be able to be involved in the research I worked on during my time at university, only this time from the position of a producer. We started trial brewing with no equipment and expertise regarding how to make small quantities of sake. Even if you decide on your desired taste in a small tank and then brew it the same way in a large tank, the taste will not be the same. After much trial and error, the sake we completed uses yeast isolated from henbit that grows naturally on the Kawagoe Campus. It has a rich, acidic flavor and a pronounced finish. I think this is a taste that young people can also enjoy. I will continue my joint research with Associate Professor Minegishi and the students and graduate students of the Department of Applied Chemistry, and we plan to brew a second and third branded local sake.
There are sake breweries all over Japan and many famous brands of sake. My goal is to create sake that is loved by many people and enjoyed for a long time to come, to the extent that our sake, “Ogosebairin,” becomes synonymous with Saitama Prefecture. I hope that the day will come when young students who are not yet familiar with sake become aware of the depth and enjoyment of sake.