Omachi (雄町) is one of the varieties of “sake rice (sakamai, 酒米)”, rice suited to making sake. It was not created by artificial crossing. It is a variety selected and grown from ears of rice that someone found. Sake rice as a whole is explained on the Types of sake rice page.
How it came about
Omachi is a variety grown in 1859 by Kishimoto Jinzo (岸本甚造), a farmer from Omachi (雄町), Takashima Village (高島村), Joto District (上道郡), Bizen Province (備前国). On his way home from a visit to worship at Hoki Daisen (伯耆大山), he found two unusual ears of rice, and he grew the variety from them through repeated selection.
Features of Omachi
Omachi is a variety with large grains and a large “shinpaku (心白)”, the white, opaque part at the center of a rice grain.
The rice plants are tall (about 150 centimeters) and fall over easily, and they are also weak against disease and pests, so the variety is difficult to grow. Compared with recent varieties, it has fewer ears and a smaller yield. For these reasons it is hard to obtain, and it is also called “maboroshi no sakamai (幻の酒米, the phantom sake rice)”.
Main producing areas
Almost all Omachi in the 2024 crop was grown in Okayama Prefecture.