Information Congratulations! First individual victory at the 43rd National KiKishu Championship!
The 2024rd National KiKishu Championship, hosted by the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association, was held on Saturday, November 11, 9.Hiroshi Iba (Niigata Prefecture) won the individual category."Victory"It was done.
This marks the first time in 9 years that the team has won the individual division at the 35th National KiKishu Championship held in XNUMX, and is a remarkable achievement.
[Individual Division]
Winner: "Hiroshi Iba" (Niigata Prefecture)
runner-up:"Takao Asano" (Gunma Prefecture)
3rd Place:"Tsuyoshi Yoshikawa" (Fukushima Prefecture)
Niigata Prefecture won in the group division."runner-up", and in the university division"Third place"was the result.
[Group Division]
XNUMXst place: "Yuka Ito" and "Kazuhisa Kitajima" (Osaka Prefecture)
runner-up:"Hiroshi Iba" and "Tomohiko Higuchi" (Niigata Prefecture)
3rd Place:"Naoki Kariyama" and "Takao Asano" (Gunma Prefecture)
[University Division]
XNUMXst place：Tohoku University "Kumagai Ren" "Suzuki Ryota"
Runner-up: Tokyo University of Agriculture"Rina Itoga" "Ryota Muneishi"
3rd place: Niigata University B "Katsutaka Uehara" "Kenta Baba"
Overview of the National KiKishu Championships
The National KiKishu Championship began in 1981 with the aim of popularizing and promoting sake culture, and is now in its 43rd year. It is a historic competition aimed at amateurs. Representatives who make it through prefectural qualifiers take a written test on sake and a "KiKishu" test in which they distinguish seven types of sake by checking their taste and aroma, competing to be the best KiKishu brewer in Japan.
Since the 2013rd tournament held in 33, sake-loving university students have been participating as a special team of two people, and the competition has become even more heated. The 1th tournament held in 2 was called the Online Master Tournament, and the KiKishu competition and sake proficiency test were held online for the first time as a countermeasure against COVID-2021 infection. In 40, the tournament will be held in person for the first time in three years since 2022. 2019 representative players selected from 3 prefectures across the country participated and fought a heated battle.
[43rd National KiKishu Championship] ★National KiKishu Championship 2024 Event Report
Organized by: Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association
National KiKishu Championship Guide (https://www.japansake.or.jp/sake/kikisake/guide/index.html）
Date: Saturday, November 2024, 11
Venue: Akasaka Intercity Conference Center, Akasaka Intercity AIR 1F, 8-1-4 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Implementation: ① Each prefecture (individual/team competition)
② University Division: 2 people per group
2. Adult Sake Lovers Club Competition: 1 people per team
<Competition content>
Written test
This is a competition to see who has the most accurate knowledge about sake. There will be 30 questions about sake. The time limit is 20 minutes.
KiKishu Competition (Matching Method)
Participants compete to identify differences in alcohol and see who can reproduce them most accurately.
First, in the first half of the test, participants will taste seven different types of sake with different qualities, and then rank them from 7 to 1 based on their preference.
Next, in the second half, you will taste the same seven types of sake as in the first half, but in a different order, and then you will rank them in the same way from 7 to 1 according to your preference.
The first and second halves will be scored to see whether your preferences match.
The match will last for a total of 7 minutes, with a 3-minute first half, a 7-minute interval, and a 17-minute second half.