Kura Master 2025

Enough about IWC–except maybe to mention that there were Kura Master judges participating in IWC sake division judging this year, so we’ll have to see where that goes as well. (IWC sake division judges have historically been barred from judging at any other competitions.)

Kura Master 2025 covered not only sake but also umeshu, honkaku shochu and Japanese wine. (The grape most widely associated with Japanese wine is called Koshu so you can imagine the chaos that causes.)

The sake and honkaku shochu contests are referred to as “Grand Concours” and the umeshu and Japanese wine merely as “Concours” on the Kura Master home page, but it’s not clear what the difference is (and Xavier Thuizat refers to the umeshu contest as a “Grand Concours” in his video so it could just be an inconsistency).

Prizes come in the form of gold or platinum medals, and the categories for 2025 were junmai daiginjo 1-35%, junmai daiginjo 36-50%, junmai 51-65%, junmai 66-100%, daiginjo (no polishing restriction), sparkling, traditional starters and koshu (aged sake, not the wine grape).

On top of these medals, there are also prizes given by the Kura Master president and jury and by the competition’s gastronomic alliance (you have to watch a 13 min video by competition president Xavier Thuizat to find out what they are) plus 50 finalists and 29 prizes for excellence. The column “Prefecture” includes US states, Chinese provinces and Singapore, so the competition seems to be open to sake made anywhere in the world.

The Jury Prizes were (I watched the video so you don’t have to):

• Sparkling sake: Kitaya Sparkling Awasake from Kitaya Shuzo (Fukuoka Pref)
• Junmai daiginjo 1–35%: Gangi junmai daiginjo Sekirei from Yaoshin Shuzo (Yamaguchi Pref)
• Junmai daiginjo 36–50%: Junmai daiginjo Kinoene Hatsuyuki from Iinuma Honke (Chiba Pref)
• Junmai 51–65%: Haneya junmai ginjo Tominokaori from Fumigiku Shuzo (Toyama Pref)
• Junmai 66–100%: Kikuyu karakuchi junmai from Kikkawa Jozo (Kanagawa Pref)
• Daiginjo: Rikishi daiginjo from Kamaya Shuzo (Saitama Pref)
• Traditional starters: BYx yamahai from Brooklyn Kura (New York, USA)
• Koshu: Tenju junmai ginjo Heisei 9 from Tenju Shuzo (Akita Pref)

The Gastronomic Alliance prize was given to the best daiginjo match for a seafood platter: 

• Okagesama daiginjo from Iseman Shuzo (Mie Pref)

The Kura Master site reports that there were 1063 entries over all 8 categories, whittled down to 50 finalists by the judges. The President’s Prize is announced in the autumn at the award ceremony. Kura Master hits its 10th anniversary next year in 2026.

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I have to admit the competition kind of lost me at the categories–why the division at 35% for junmai daiginjo but not daiginjo? If you use the term junmai daiginjo then why not use the term junmai ginjo instead of a polishing band?

Why include daiginjo that are not junmai but no other non-junmai? Especially for a contest that often focuses on food pairing, it doesn’t seem to make much sense to leave out futusushu, honjozo, tokubetsu honjozo and ginjo. And why have the gastronomic alliance prize just for only daiginjo?

And a bold win for Brooklyn Kura’s yamahai–I have no idea if I’ll be able to get hold of it in Nagano or Zurich but I hope someone can tell if they think it deserved to win out over everything made in Japan!