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歴史Rekishi(History)WineacbTheGrapesThatStartedItAII:DiscoveraFascinatingLegacyinJapan’sHistoricWineCountryThestoryofJapanesewinemakingbe-gan1,300yearsagointheK¯osh¯uareaofYamanashiPrefecture.TheBuddhistpriestGy¯okihadadreaminwhichYakushiNyorai,theBuddhaofhealing,appearedbeforehimholdingaclusterofgrapes.Takingthedreamasasign,Gy¯okifoundedthetempleDaizenjiandencouragedlocalresidentstocultivategrapesformedicinalpurposes.Later,duringtheeighteenthcentury,theideatofermentthesegrapestomakewineemergedasJa-pancameintoclosercontactwiththeWest.Consequently,Japan’sfirstwinerywasestablishedinYamanashiinthe1870s.ThiswasaperiodofmassivesocialandeconomictransformationknownastheMeijiResto-4SadoyaWinery(K¯ofuCity,YamanashiPrefecture)aVisitorscantourthevastcellarofthiscentury-oldwinery,whichalsocontainsinteractiveexhibitsonthewinemakingprocessandthehistoryofJapa-nesewinemaking.ration,andtheJapanesegovernmentpro-motedwinemakingasasymbolofJapan’snewfoundmodernization.Today,YamanashiremainsthecenterofJapanesewinemakinganditslargestdomesticproducer,hometodozensofdis-tinguishedlocalwineries.SomeYamanashiwineshaveevenattractedinternationalac-claim.Inaddition,theregion’sscenicbeautyisindisputable;there’snowhereelseyoucansipanaward-winningvintageintheshadowofMountFujiandtheJapaneseAlps.Withitsuniquehistoryandbreathtakingsurroundings,there’slittlesurprisethatYamanashi’swinecountryiscapturingtheheartsofwineloversfromallovertheworld.