[SAKE BREWERY] THE HONKE WAY: FINDING ONENESS IN ANCIENT WISDOM

Gonin Musume Junmaishu from Terada Honke has long been one of the finest selections in our carefully curated sake collection, served across all Pizza 4P’s restaurants. As a Japanese-rooted brand, we continuously seek to introduce meaningful products that not only delight your palate but also share our core values of sustainability, authenticity and harmony with nature.

In Japanese, “honke” means the main family, the original house that carries tradition forward through generations. At Terada Honke, this isn’t merely terminology, it’s a living philosophy that has flowed like an unbroken stream for nearly 400 years, from the 17th century to our tables today.

Terada Honke operates as a harmonious ecosystem where brewers and beneficial microorganisms work in energetic collaboration. Here, diverse forces, from microscopic life, human craftsmanship, traditional tools, and time-honored practices, connect  to create products that are both delicious and nourishing. This embodies the essence of Oneness: the seamless harmony between the visible and invisible, between people and nature, between ancient wisdom and contemporary purpose.

Gonin Musume Junmaishu: The story behind the name

When Keisuke Terada, the 23rd-generation owner, faced a serious illness, his deteriorating health became a catalyst for profound reflection. This personal crisis led him to redirect his brewery toward an entirely new approach to sake brewing – one that would harness nature’s full potential to create authentic sake that delivers genuine benefits to all who enjoy it. Through countless trials and refinements, Terada Honke finally developed a product that truly embodied their newly defined philosophy of natural brewing.

For this milestone achievement, their first successfully brewed natural sake, Keisuke sought the blessing of Bunmei Tsuchiya, a distinguished poet of the prestigious Araragi school. Bunmei, advanced in years when he received this honor, shared deep personal connections with Ken Terada, the 20th-generation owner. He fondly recalled visiting Terada Honke and being delightfully surprised by the vibrant energy of the household, filled with the owner’s daughters.

Inspired by these memories, Bunmei chose the name “GONIN MUSUME” (Five Daughters), explaining his reasoning: “Sake created in such a lively brewery, blessed with daughters in the family, must surely bring joyous cheer to all who taste it”. He further noted that “the purity of naturally brewed sake mirrors the innocence and vitality of daughters”. The name thus captures both the sake’s pure character and the spirited atmosphere of its birthplace.

The courage of choosing authenticity

Many assume sake should be crystal clear, but this transparency comes only after filtration with charcoal and diatomaceous earth to remove natural color and flavor compounds. At Terada Honke, they celebrate the golden amber hue of freshly pressed sake, viewing it as a mark of authenticity. While filtration creates visual clarity, it unfortunately strips away many beneficial substances produced by the fermentation microorganisms.

Initially, Gonin Musume was produced as a filtered product, but Terada Honke now crafts all their sakes, including Gonin Musume, in unfiltered form. This reflects their unwavering commitment to delivering freshly brewed products in their original essence, allowing us to experience the authentic taste of natural sake created through traditional brewing techniques at their finest.

In the 1980s, when the sake industry embraced industrial shortcuts for speed and efficiency, Terada Honke made a defining choice that would reshape their destiny. They deliberately turned away from modern conveniences and returned to the ancient kimoto brewing process – a path demanding patience, reverence, and unwavering faith in nature’s unhurried timeline.

Step into Terada Honke’s brewery today, and you witness craftsmanship in its most refined form. Like master sculptors working with living clay, the brewers engage all five senses in their art. They feel the rice’s subtle texture changes, listen to the gentle sounds of active fermentation, inhale the complex aromatics of developing sake, observe the visual cues that speak of perfect timing, and taste the gradual evolution of their creation. This transforms sake-making into meditation, brewing into living philosophy.

Their diverse portfolio tells the story of this firm dedication: the robust, umami-rich Katori 90, crafted from organic Koshihikari rice polished to only 90 percent to preserve maximum flavor; the ancient Daigo no Shizuku, made using the traditional bodaimoto starter method; and the revolutionary Musubi, a cider-like sake brewed with germinated brown rice that challenges every conventional assumption about what sake can be.

Yet among these remarkable innovations, Gonin Musume holds special significance, it remains the pioneering natural sake that first announced Terada Honke’s commitment to a radically different path.

Oneness Partner

At Pizza 4P’s, we recognize like-minded spirits when we encounter them. In Terada Honke, we discovered not merely a supplier, but what we call an “Oneness Partner” – a true collaborator who understands that genuine luxury lies not in ostentation, but in uncompromising authenticity.

Their Gonin Musume Junmaishu graces our tables with deep purpose and meaning. Its distinctive tangy umami character and vibrant complexity don’t simply accompany our artisanal pizzas – they complete the dining experience. Each carefully considered sip unfolds multiple layers of flavor that speak to the patient cultivation of both exceptional rice and meaningful relationships built on shared values.

This Junmaishu embodies everything Terada Honke represents: absolute purity, living tradition, and the patient cultivation of excellence that cannot be rushed. Each sip unfolds like a living narrative, from the careful sowing of pesticide-free rice to the meditative process of natural fermentation guided by wild yeasts and centuries of accumulated wisdom.

This represents the magic we continuously seek: the seamless harmony between Japanese brewing wisdom and our philosophy of Making the World Smile for Peace through genuine connection, authentic experiences, and respect for nature’s gifts.