Unmistakable fingerprint is the massive ginjyo bouquet for which this is well-known: more floral even than the label with its pink cherry blossom petals. This uses Association No.10 yeast, which is widely used in ginjyo brewing in the northern prefectures, though rarely to produce such a powerful fragrance as this.

Floral rather than fruity, though there is atouch of pear, and perhaps melon.Soft-feeling on the tongue, and has atransparency of flavor to match the clarity of the colorless liquor, which has a bitter focus.Extremely popular standard; ofen used to show sake newcomers what ginjyo-ka is.

This is aged three years before shipping, but it has none of the dark, smoky hine-ka flavors that are anathema to lovers of the clean and fresh.What it does have is the roundness, the depth,and a lack of sharp edges,all of which are the strengths of mature sake. The liquor is exceptionally clear for its age;its austerity of line when cold gains in volume when slightly warmed.For me,definitely at its best as nuru-kan. The label retains the cherry blossom motif of other Dewazakura products. Their pale pink is set an ascetic pattern (rather like the clouds found on temple screens), and the label is printed on plain white paper with a pale red border, creatin an affecting austerity. Unlike its popular sister product (avove), this may take some finding.

If this tasted like mud, I would still love it for the poetry of its name, which is taken from that style of gardening which, sadly, becomes merely "dry landscape" in English (poetry being, as Robert Frost said, what gets lost in translation). In it you find colossal rivers flowing between awesome mountain ranges - sculptured in a few narrow yards from rocks and moss and the gravel that forms the mighty currents of great rivers.

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