How the name "Kimama" came to be

How Kimama came to be

It took quite some time to decide on the name of our sake.
Once a name is chosen, it's not easily changed, and since it's a brand that will represent our company and be nurtured for a long time, I agonized over it as much as choosing a child's name.

First, starting with auspicious, standard names.
Many sake brands use auspicious words like "Tsuru" (crane), "Kame" (turtle), "Shochikubai" (pine, bamboo, plum), and "Masamune." My initial thought was to incorporate such words and have a calligrapher write them in brush script for the label. However, this approach quickly got rejected because it would result in "common names" lacking individuality.

The I Ching phrase "Chiten Tai"

Next, I considered the "I Ching," an ancient Chinese classic. It is the foremost of the Five Classics and a fundamental book of Confucianism, expressing the principles of the world through 64 hexagrams.
It is also widely known as a book of divination called "Zhouyi."
Among them, I found the hexagram "Chiten Tai" (地天泰), which means "peace and tranquility," a very auspicious hexagram. I thought it would be suitable as our company's brand name, but since I wasn't 100% convinced, I put this idea on hold without fully discarding it.

"Uchoten" - This is it! But the trademark...

Wanting to find a more unique name, I generated a large number of compound words using AI and diligently searched Web dictionaries.
That's when I encountered the word "Uchoten."
While it is commonly used today with the nuance of "being carried away and elated," it originally refers to a Buddhist term meaning "the highest state, the peak of heaven."
It seemed playful yet had a deep meaning, truly the ideal word.
I was convinced this was it, but a trademark search revealed it was already being used for another alcoholic beverage. I had no choice but to give up on it.

A hint born from memories of ancient art

The answer came from a completely different place.
During a period when I dealt with antiques, I learned about the potter Handeishi Kawakita.
It is said that when he was making pottery, he would press his ear to the kiln and listen to the sound of the burning wood, eventually losing his hearing in his later years.
One of the pseudonyms Handeishi used was "Sonoma" (其飯), meaning "as is."
"Omanma" (cooked rice) is "rice," and sake is made by brewing rice.
I was strongly drawn to the sound of "sonomama" and its connection to rice.
A trademark search suggested it might be possible to acquire, but even though Handeishi was deceased, he still had family.
I considered the possibility of complaints from his surviving family later on.
For this reason, I decided to abandon its use.

The word "kimama" came to mind.

Still, I really wanted to use the word "mama."
An idea to replace the "han" (飯) in "sonohan" with "kome" (米) to make "sonokome" (其米, meaning "as is rice") also came to mind, but it didn't quite feel right.
Then, suddenly, the word "kimama" came to me.
"Kimama" (気まま) has a free, unrestrained, and relaxed feel to it.
I decided without hesitation to use the character "米" (kome, rice) for "mama."
For the remaining character "ki," I chose "希" (ki, rare) due to the rarity of the local rice, which local farmers painstakingly cultivated.

Thus, "Kimama" (希米) was born.
Kimama (希米).
A free-spirited sake born from rare rice.
Brewing is made possible by the work of microorganisms like yeast and koji, and in a way, it is quite "kimama" (whimsical).
Even with the same ingredients, a slight difference in temperature or rice polishing can result in a different taste.

Truly Kimama (希米)

The name embodies our gratitude to local farmers and our desire to deliver the inherent deliciousness of rice as it is.
The name carries this much of a story.
Please try Kimama once and savor it with its background in mind.