Hori
Suzuhiro Kamaboko no Sato is directly connected to Kazamatsuri station at the foot of Hakone. Centered around the main Suzuhiro Kamaboko store, it is a key tourist spot with restaurants, cafes, a museum, and souvenir shops operated by Suzuhiro. It can be easily understood as the Odawara relay station for the Hakone Ekiden (relay race).
It was at one of these souvenir shops that I first encountered "Umi to Daichi" at a kamaboko bar, where you can compare kamaboko. I had only known light and dry sake when I learned to drink sake in Niigata about 10 years ago.
The fish scraps from making kamaboko. Suzuhiro makes fish fertilizer "Umikara Daichi" from them and provides it to local farmers, thereby developing a recycling-oriented business. One of the crops, Odawara-grown Kinuhikari rice, is used to brew "Umi to Daichi" by Ashigara-based Inoue Sake Brewery as a private label product of Suzuhiro Kamaboko.
It is a dry type with a strong umami flavor that goes well with fish, perhaps due to preconceived notions. It is especially great with fish cakes, and I am convinced that there is no better sake for ita-wasa. Personally, I like to pair it with Suzuhiro's slightly better fish cakes and extra virgin olive oil, Sea and Earth.
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