The Newly Debuted Onikoroshi

History of Saito Shuzo

Saito Shuzo was founded by Saito family in the late 17th century. Their initial business was not about Japanese sake, but the Kimono/apparel trade. In 1985, they decided to leave the Kimono business and switched over to sake brewing. Ever since then, they have been brewing traditional and high quality sake using the local spring water and rice. This brewery is located in Fushimi, Kyoto, which is well- known as a popular sake brewing area in Kyoto.

Story Behind the New Label Onikoroshi

The old label Onikoroshi has been sold in the BC market for a few years. Since its emergence to the market, it has been long loved by sake drinkers for its clear sharp taste and unexpected dryness. As “Onikoroshi” means a damon killer in Japanese, the old label depicts the traditional Japanese drawings of a damon and a damon killer. This old label was made in a Japanese traditional technique for printing a text; woodblock printing. However, this old label is now changed to a new one in order to spread Japanese sake culture more to the Canadian market. The new label is designed in a totally new way to suite the wine culture in Canada. This new label is based on black and white color with a red dot to resemble the Japanese national flag. Surprisingly, there is no figure of a damon found anywhere in the new label. Everything is kept simple, but at some point the feature of Japan is embodied in the label. The flavour and taste of Onikoroshi remains the same but the new label changes to visually match with any kind of cuisines.

Collaborating with Kyoto local art students

This project of changing label was helped by students at Kyoto University of Art and Design (KUAD). This university is one of the most famous art universities in Japan and its vice-president Yasushi Akimoto is known as the producer of Japanese girl idol group AKB48. In fact, the very first AKB48’s idol outfit was initially designed by students at KUAD. What led to this decision of changing the label was to expand into new markets, mainly focusing on the wine market. Through collaborating with KUAD to make a label, the Onikoroshi can appear to the market in a different angle than ever before. Onikoroshi with new label can now be exposed to a wider market that could not have been reached before.

As a part of Class Project

Designing a new label was carried out as a part of the class project, which was carried out over a span of 9 weeks. Each student had brainstormed ideas and created their own unique label designs. This class project was participated by 21 of 3rd year students starting from the end of September last year.

Students were invited to the Brewery Saito Shuzo to learn about the history and sake making process. Also, each student did some research on food culture in Canada to better understand the combination of food and sake.

These experiences passionately inspired students in the label designing process. Each student gave a presentation about their labeling design and 3 out of 21 designs were chosen for the best designs. After a careful consideration, only 1 design (designed by Asuka Ikegawa) was chosen for the label used.

This label was chosen for its simple but powerful design that emphasizes the sharpness and dryness of the Onikoroshi. However, this chosen label design was not the final design; there were a lot of modifications and changes added to this chosen label.

After spending much time on elaborating on the label design, the new label design reveals more features of Japanese culture.

The label is coated with Vanishes that implies the modest Kyoto culture. The background includes design of “Asa no Ha”, which is the symbol of keeping demons away in Japan. Asuka commented that she focused on the strong impressions of Japanese culture that the label could possibly leave to the audiences. Tiniest details were considered in this project to express the beauty and culture of Japan.

Struggles of Changing the Label

Changing the labels to suit the local market without losing the existing customers was not an easy process. The changed design does not only impact the image, but also influence the way people perceive the quality of this sake. Since the Onikoroshi with the old label has been long enjoyed by consumers, changing the design may appeal less attractive to the existing customers. The key point of this project was to maintain its current popularity and expand its brand name into the new market.

Cheers!

The Onikoroshi with new label is exclusive to the Canadian market that it is not available in the Japanese market. You can only enjoy its delicate taste with an unique bottle design in Canada. There are not many Japanese Sake that went through such a huge project to change their bottle designs.
This label designing project was also capturedin the Kyoto local newspaper.

EIKUN 
SAITO SHUZO CO., LTD.

KYOTO JAPAN