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Along the northern coastline of western Honshu, the pace of life is decidedly different from that on the busy southern coast, where the big cities lie. And on this north coast between the Sea of Japan and the Chugoku Mountains is found the rather lovely prefecture of Shimane.
Capital of Shimane is the attractive castle town known as Matsue, located beside Lake Shinji. It is on the produce from Lake Shinji that the delectable local cuisine known as kyodo-ryori is based. Matsue's kyodo-ryori consists of seven exotic dishes from Lake Shinji and includes such delights as baked carp, broiled freshwater eel and steam-baked and paper-wrapped bass.
As one might expect, the perfect accompaniment to the local fare is the local sake. And here, the drink of choice is the produce of Rihaku Brewing Company.
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Founded in 1882 and located close to Matsue's castle, the company takes its name from Li Po, one of China's greatest poets, whose name in Japanese is Rihaku. Li Po was known for his fondness for the bottle, and many of the sakes produced by the Rihaku brewery carry poems and quotes from the eighth-century poet.
The sakes of Rihaku are typically mellow and well rounded, thanks in no small part to the good quality of the soft water from the deep well near the brewery. Such are the finely honed skills of Rihaku's brew-master that the brewery has won the gold medal eight times in national sake-tasting competitions over the past couple of decades.
Li Po himself, of course, never got to taste the wares of the brewery that would one day be named after him. But it is difficult to imagine that he would have been disappointed with such excellent brews as the Wandering Poet and Dreamy Clouds of Rihaku.
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