Koji liberation front

n a interesting twist on the recent UNESCO listing, someone is already taking exception to the definition of sake (nihonshu) as made from rice (and rice koji) alone. 

And that person is none other than Shoya Imai, former toji at Wakaze in Paris, who has boldly proclaimed his intention to not only “liberate koji” but also “redefine sake“. And looking at his crowdfunding project, it seems to be an idea with plenty of backers: it was fully funded on the day it launched and as of 14 Dec 2024 had reached 657% of its original goal. 

The range produced will be called “Yao”, spelled in kanji as 800, which signifies a great multitude and by extension diversity, which is what Imai is looking to introduce. He points out that the current craft sake movement introduces variation by adding something to a classic sake base, he wants to push the envelope by making a bigger change – in the raw material koji is grown on.

As the youngest son of a sake brewery, Imai never expected to take over the family business but inherited a strong interest in food that led him to study at Tokyo University of Agriculture and work in industries that emphasised its value. Despite leaving Japan in 2019 to set up Wakaze Paris and working with Takara in the US, he left in 2024 to return to Japan and set up his own brewery, LINNÉ, whose name is taken from naturalist and taxonomer Carl von Linnaeus, reflecting his intention to go right to the heart of what defines sake.

Longer-term, Imai hopes to create a drink fermented with koji that uses no rice at all, increase the number of brewers worldwide, conduct basic research on brewing in partnership with sake breweries, and foster open exchange of information on koji-based fermentation.

Rewards for the crowdfunding campaign include tickets for release parties in Tokyo and Kyoto, a lecture by Imai, and their launch lineup of four products – a rice-based drink, a barrel-aged drink made from barley, a drink made from soba and a drink made from sweet potato.

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麹を解放し、SAKEを再定義する。 世界で初めての醸造酒、異を醸す酒「800」(Campfire, Japanese)

A diagram illustrating the relationship between “official” sake, craft sake, and Linne’s concept of expanding the definition of (unofficial) “sake”, with rice in the centre, labelled “seishu” (a legal term for nihonshu), surrounded by a larger circle marked “craft sake” (nihonshu + secondary ingredients), and adjoining circles with the characters for barley, soba and sweet potato.