What Do the Numbers on a Label Tell You? — Seimai-buai Shows Not “How Much Was Polished Away,” but “How Much Remains”

A Japanese alcohol label mixes two kinds of items: those that must appear because a law or an official notification requires them, and those a maker chooses to add on its own judgment. Printed in the same typeface, the two can look identical — but the weight of authority behind them is not the same. This article tags each item on the label with a number or a letter, and reads the label while distinguishing what rests on a documented rule from what is a maker’s own optional information.

Legend — Number Tags and Letter Tags: Two Kinds of Labelling, Two Different Levels of Authority

This article marks each item on the label with one of two kinds of tags: a number tag (1–21) or a letter tag (a, b, e, f).

• A number tag marks an item that a law or an official notification regulates. This includes two kinds: items whose labelling is mandatory (statutory category, alcohol content, net volume, and so on), and items where whether to state it is up to the maker, but if the maker does state it, a notification sets the conditions for doing so (genshu, nama-zake, the rice variety used, and so on — the notification calls these “voluntary labelling items”).
• A letter tag marks information that neither a law nor a notification regulates — it is information the maker includes as a matter of custom.

In other words, for number-tagged items, regardless of whether the maker chooses to state them, the rule for how to state them sits on the side of law or notification. Letter-tagged items carry no such rule. From here, we look mainly at the front and back labels of sake, then move through the differences for shochu, umeshu, and Japanese whisky in turn.

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The Front Label of a Sake Bottle

Tag 2 | The Eight Special Designations

The special designations divide as follows, by seimai-buai and raw materials.

* Tokubetsu Junmai-shu and Tokubetsu Honjōzō-shu share the same seimai-buai condition, so the table above combines them into one row. As names, they are counted separately, making eight designations in total.

As shared conditions, the notification sets: the proportion of kōji rice used must be 15% or more; brewer’s alcohol must not exceed 10% of the white rice’s weight (converted to 95-degree alcohol); the raw rice must be brown rice graded 3rd class or higher; and conformity to the standard is judged by rounding down any fraction under 1%. Junmai-shu once carried a numerical requirement of “seimai-buai 70% or less,” but this requirement was deleted in a 2003 (Heisei 15) revision of the notification, and there is now no numerical requirement. The seimai-buai figures are the upper limits of the standard for each special designation, not the actual measured value of any individual product. And this figure is a standard that divides the conditions for using raw materials — it does not mean that a smaller number makes for a better sake.

Tag 3 | Seimai-buai — Not “How Much Was Polished Away,” but “How Much Remains”

Seimai-buai is a figure showing the percentage, by weight, of white rice that remains after the brown rice has been polished. A seimai-buai of 60% means that 40% of the outer layer of the brown rice has been polished away, leaving 60% remaining. In other words, the smaller the number, the more the rice has been polished. Misreading “seimai-buai 60%” as “60% was polished away” reverses the meaning exactly. The number on the label shows how much remains — not how much was removed.

The Back Label of a Sake Bottle

Tag 8 | Date of Manufacture — Not a Vintage Year

The figure printed on the label as “seizō nengetsu” (year and month of manufacture) is termed, in the language of the Notification, “seizō jiki” (date of manufacture). The Notification defines it as “the time when the product was filled into its container and sealed for the purpose of sale.” In other words, it is the time the seishu was bottled and capped.

It is easily confused with the harvest year (vintage) found on a wine label, but the meaning is different. It is neither the year the rice was harvested nor the time brewing began. Even for the same sake, if the bottling time differs, this figure changes.

Tag 9 | Genshu — The Commercial Product and Genshu Are Related as “Before and After Adding Water”

Most sake is sold at 15–16%, because water is added after production to adjust the strength. “Genshu,” to which no water is added, reaches a strength of nearly 20%. Here, 15–16% is the figure for the commercial product (after water is added), and nearly 20% is the figure for genshu (before water is added). The two figures show stages before and after adding water within the same production process — they are not a difference between home brewing and a commercial product.

Tag 12 | Where This Labelling Standard Comes From

This Tag 12 labelling standard is based on an NTA Notification concerning the containers of alcoholic beverages distributed within Japan, and it is separate from age regulations within Thailand.

The Shochu Label — Differences from Sake

Adding a note on shochu’s alcohol content: the liquid straight after distillation can exceed 40%. The maker then adds water, and most honkaku shochu on the market is brought to around 25%. Some is finished at 20%, chosen according to regional habits and drinking customs. The alcohol content shown on the label is this post-water, market-stage figure.

The Umeshu and Liqueur Label — Differences from Sake

The Japanese Whisky Label

Under 95%, 700 liters, 3 years, and 40% or higher are all lower or upper limits set by this standard — they are not the actual measured values of any commercial product. As for stating an age (X years) on the label, we have not been able to confirm the general practice for cases where multiple batches of aged spirit are blended, so here we note only that the standard requires aging within Japan for 3 years or more.

One more note, on color: the depth of color depends not only on the number of years, but also greatly on what kind of cask was used. Color is not a certificate of age.

Law, NTA Notification, and Industry Self-Standard — Three Tiers, Summarized

Even when displays sit side by side on the same label, the rules that back them are not all of the same character. Laws are enacted by the Diet; NTA Notifications set details within the framework of a law; and industry self-standards are set by each industry body itself and then given official accreditation. Keeping these three tiers distinct lets you see which items on a label are backed by which strength of rule.

The starting point for reading a label accurately is not to mistake something a law makes mandatory for something an industry has set for itself, as if the two carried the same weight of rule. “Honkaku shochu” and “Japanese whisky,” for instance, are both terms that sound familiar to the ear — but what supports those names is not a law. It is a standard the industry set for itself.