結来
Binding the culture of our island to the future.
Machida Shuzo Co., Ltd.
Thirty-five years on, a gaze still turned toward the island
In 1991, Machida Shuzo built its distillery in Tatsugo, on Amami Oshima — an island blessed with water of remarkable clarity. Thirty-five years have passed since. Years quietly accumulated, one modest day at a time, in the hope of carrying kokuto shochu, the brown-sugar spirit nurtured across the Amami islands, to ever more people.
To mark this milestone, we send a new expression out into the world. Its name is Yurai.
In the language of Amami, yurai means to gather, to come together. To sit shoulder to shoulder, to talk, to walk on side by side — a warm word, alive in the everyday life of the island.
The nature of Amami, the traditions of Amami, and the people who make their lives here. May every living thing that shapes this island gather — yurai — in this single bottle, and carry on into the future. That prayer is what we entrusted to these two characters.
Amami Seishika, the phantom flower
The label of the first Yurai release is graced by the Amami Seishika — an evergreen small tree of the rhododendron family that grows wild on Amami Oshima and nowhere else on earth.
From late March into the middle of April it blooms quietly on rocky ground along deep mountain streams: a flower of the rarest kind. In bud it wears a pale crimson, and as it opens it turns to a translucent white. Small, faint yellow-green speckles scattered across the upper inner face of the petals are its surest mark.
Its name means “the sacred purple flower.” As a symbol of the forest where gods and spirits dwell, it has long drawn a feeling close to awe from the people of the island. Today it is listed as Endangered (EN) on Japan’s Ministry of the Environment Red List and designated a protected rare wild species by Kagoshima Prefecture. Simply to lay eyes on one is counted a piece of good fortune — a flower that fully earns the name “phantom.”
Living surely in Amami, yet a treasure known only to a few. Setting its likeness on the label became the first step in Yurai’s purpose: to carry the culture of this island outward.
Rocky banks along the mountain streams, and untouched evergreen broadleaf forest. For barely a month of flowering, white blossoms sway quietly deep in the woods. To meet one at all has always been counted a small piece of luck.
A blend built on yellow koji
The kokuto shochu of Amami has, by force of its climate, traditionally been brewed with black koji or white koji — the accumulated wisdom of those who came before us, seeking steady fermentation under a warm subtropical sky.
For the foundation of Yurai’s character, however, we chose yellow koji: long used in sake brewing, and known for lending a delicate colour to aroma. For distillation we chose atmospheric distillation, which draws out the flavour of the ingredients without holding anything back.
Machida Shuzo was among the first in Amami to adopt vacuum distillation, which gives a light, low-temperature finish. Why, then, turn the clock back and choose a method that meets the raw ingredients face to face? Because blending the delicacy of yellow koji with the rugged strength of black koji yields something else entirely — the mellow, sweet aroma that only brown sugar can give. The moment it is poured into the glass, a face of kokuto shochu no one has met before rises up to greet you.
An aroma in bloom, a mellow finish
Tilt the glass, and the first thing to rise is the bright, fruity aroma the yellow koji carries. Over it layers the powerful character of unfiltered black koji, and the rich sweetness of brown sugar opens out in strata.
On the palate, long maturation has rounded away every edge: mellow, smooth, unhurried. Past the throat there remains a faint echo of brown sugar and a quiet, comfortable sweetness.
Yurai is a new glass, poured to redraw the picture of what Machida Shuzo’s craft can be.
Bright aromatics from the yellow-koji base meet the dense, concentrated notes only unfiltered black koji can give — two layers, one deep and lingering finish.
Long maturation has worn the edges away. Mellow and smooth, with a sure depth that opens at the back of the tongue.
A faint sweetness of brown sugar lingers, quiet and comfortable — a long, gentle close.
Another pleasure, poured with hot water
Yurai blends an unfiltered spirit brewed with black koji into a base distilled at atmospheric pressure from yellow koji.
Cut with hot water, the savoury compounds — the oils that come of leaving it unfiltered — dissolve generously, and the body and depth native to brown sugar spread slowly through the glass. Over ice, the strong character of the spirit itself stands out in sharp relief.
A bottle that shifts its expression with the mood of the day and the table it joins. Try it served several ways, and follow how the aroma travels.
The bright aromatics of yellow koji step forward, over a rich and concentrated palate.
The oils drawn from unfiltered black koji melt into the water, releasing a full, rounded aroma.
The mellowness of long maturation, exactly as it is.
The island’s spring, bound into a single bottle.
The Amami Seishika in delicate bloom, and the bright colours of spring on Amami Oshima.
The pale flowers set across the label are the island’s own nature, just as it is.
The two characters of 結来, drawn in a flowing hand, entrust to their supple curves our wish to tie bonds like thread — island to island, person to person.
A small bottle of prayer, offered at our thirty-fifth milestone.
In closing
A phantom flower, raised by the nature of Amami.
The making of kokuto shochu, spun by the island over generations.
The brewers who carry that work forward.
Yurai, offered by Machida Shuzo to mark thirty-five years, is where that small prayer takes shape.
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