Miyama Nishiki (美山錦) is one of the varieties of “sake rice (sakamai, 酒米)”, rice suited to making sake. In the 2024 crop, its production was the third largest, after Yamada Nishiki and Gohyakumangoku. Sake rice as a whole is explained on the Types of sake rice page.
How it came about
Miyama Nishiki is a sake rice developed in 1978 at the Nagano Prefecture agricultural experiment station from a mutation produced by exposing “Takane Nishiki (たかね錦)” to gamma rays.
Features of Miyama Nishiki
Miyama Nishiki is a variety whose rice plants are tall and fall over easily, and fairly few of its grains have a shinpaku (心白).
Miyama Nishiki is also the variety that was used as a comparison or as a parent when Hitogokochi and Dewa Sansan were developed.
Main producing areas
The prefectures with the largest production in the 2024 crop are Nagano, Akita and Yamagata.
“Shinano Omachi”, a geographical indication that names Miyama Nishiki as an ingredient
The geographical indication (GI) for sake “Shinano Omachi (信濃大町)” (Nagano Prefecture) requires that only “Miyama Nishiki”, “Hitogokochi (ひとごこち)”, “Kinmon Nishiki (金紋錦)” and “Sankei Nishiki (山恵錦)” be used for the rice and the rice koji. The rice is limited to rice harvested in designated rice fields in Omachi City (大町市) and Matsukawa Village (松川村) in Kitaazumi District (北安曇郡), Nagano Prefecture.