"Koji" mold, which is key to sake production and is called "the mold of the nation," has been developed in Japan since ancient times. With traditional sake production's addition to the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, this reporter spoke with experts about the mold's history and where it'll go from here.

The 'koji-makers' behind sake

"There are around 100,000 types of mold in the world. The fact that the Japanese chose one, 'koji,' should be a source of astonishment," commented Hiroshi Konno, president of brewing supplies maker Akita Konno Co. in the northern Japan city of Daisen, Akita Prefecture.

Akita Konno is a business that specializes in providing varieties of koji, known as a "tanekojiya." There are only some 10 to 20 tanekojiya in the country according to President Konno, who also acts as chair of a national cooperative of the manufacturers. That modest number includes those who make varieties of koji for soy sauce, miso and other things. Just eight companies produce koji specifically for sake, reportedly to meet the demand of some 1,600 sake production companies.

However, just because there are few catering to many does not mean their industry is stable. Yuichiro Murai, the president of Kojiya Sanzaemon Co., a tanekojiya in the Aichi Prefecture city of Toyohashi that has been in business since the Muromachi period (1336-1573), said, "We don't profit enough to even mention it."

For one, demand is not exactly high since a 200-gram bag of koji that goes for a few thousand yen (several tens of dollars) can be used to make thousands of 1.8-liter bottles of sake. In addition to the costs of maintaining the mold's quality, sales of sake are declining, and some tanekojiya are closing shop.

That's exactly why the UNESCO registration of koji mold is so significant.

President Murai welcomed the development, saying, "While 'tanekojiya' koji-making is a behind-the-scenes type of role, it has served as infrastructure to support stable sake production. I feel that it has paid off."

Is 'koji' uniquely Japanese?

Alcoholic beverages that make use of koji are produced throughout Asia in countries where the environment is warm and moist enough for mold to grow. However, Japan's food culture is one element thought to have made its sake production differ from the others. Rice has been the staple food in Japan since ancient times, whereas in China and other places, noodles and other dishes made from flour have also been a main part of the diet. People in Japan have developed sake brewing with the combination of steamed rice and koji.

Recently, koji molds have been found in other countries, but it is unclear whether they had already existed or were introduced from Japan with the development of transportation. The uniqueness of koji itself is currently unknown, as it is not a major subject of research outside of Japan. Ken Oda, a senior researcher at the National Research Institute of Brewing (NRIB), an independent administrative corporation in the Hiroshima Prefecture city of Higashihiroshima, said, "Analysis of the koji mold genomes themselves is underway."

Regardless, Oda pointed out, "Japan has a unique advantage over other countries in that the industry using koji has been developed over a long time." He mentioned that the mold is no doubt unique to the country from a cultural and historical standpoint.

Fears of leaks abroad

With the heritage registration come worries that koji molds or related technologies could leak to other countries. There are examples of Japan-grown plant varieties such as strawberries and grapes being cultivated overseas after being taken from Japan without permission.

Konno noted, "Anyone can culture it, but the key is reproducing it with consistent quality. Maintaining that is not easy." Compared to plants, microorganisms such as mold mutate easily. Considering the high costs to develop facilities and the technologies to maintain quality, he said that imitating Japan would be no small feat.

Sanzaemon's Murai commented, "To put it bluntly, there are many small and medium-sized companies, so it would be faster to acquire them." However, he wants the national government to strategize ways to deal with the situation.

Of the roughly 300 strains of koji stored at the NRIB, progress is being made to analyze and store in a database the genomes of 100 or more.

"The Convention on Biological Diversity, to which many countries are signatories, recognizes sovereign rights to biological resources. It is important to clarify the molds' genomes," Oda said.

(Japanese original by Norihisa Ueda, Kyushu Business News Department)