In January just past midwinter, and still in bitter cold, Camellia flowers are adding colors under the winter sky at our factory.
The　other　day,　Ms.　Miura　Ryu,　a　granddaughter　of　Waka　poet　Miura　Giichi,　and　a　beautiful poet herself, has visited this place.
And the moment she glanced at the figures of Camellia and the Factory, she recited the following Waka poem from Manyoshu.

　Well is the Mount Mimoro guarded by　the people,
　Japanese Andromeda is in bloom at the foot,
　Camellia is in flower at the top,
　Beautiful is the mountain,
　And the people cherish like nursing a crying child.

This Waka poem is composed on the theme of refined and graceful beauty of Mount Miwa (Oomiwa Shrine in Nara), which the mountain itself is the object of worship. And in Oomiwa Shrine, the Deity of Sake-brewing (Fermentation-brewing), namely, the Diety of Kinshoku (Fermented-food) is enshrined. I was deeply touched with delight that Ms. Miura Ryu, with her acute sensibility, sensed the same wave-motion of Mount Miwa, the mountain of Kinshoku Deity, in this Factory.

In next column, I would like to introduce a part of Kinshoku manufacturing process.