Dr. Osvald and Japan
Isao Onoda, Managing Director of Niechietsu Corporation
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of dr. Osvald´s birthday I would like to remember some historical circumstances of the relationship between the hop of the Žatec region, Osvald´s clones and Japan.
The first hop-field is said to have been founded in Japan in 1877 as an experimental piece of land with an area of 1.1 ha at the Agricultural School in Komaba. Further, it is known that the Dainippon brewery planted 14 ha of the hop-fields with the plants from Hokkaidó. However, proper cultivation has been dated since 1907, when Mr. K. Negami from the above mentioned company obtained 8 main European species of hop, including the ones of the Žatec, Wurtenberg, Spalt and Hersburg regions, somewhere in Germany. His colleague Mr T. Shinohara initiated cultivating of those kinds on Hokkaidó. It was probably the first hop of the Žatec region, which was planted in Japanese ground. In 1913 15 species, cultivated from 30 kinds of hop, interbred by Mr Shinohara were transported to the newly built hop- fields in Nagano in Central Japan. By that time, selection of the most suitable species for the Japanese climate and with the best bitterness and aroma started. In 1918 the cross-breed between the hop or the Žatec region as the female plant and the "White Bine" species(origin unknown) as the male plant was chosen as the best species, originally called "Shinshuu Hop" (Shinshuu is the old name for Nagano), later renamed as "Shinshuu Wase". Since that time it has been the most . important Japanese aromatic hop (content of alpha acid 5 up to 7%, relation alpha/beta approximately = 1). The total area of the Japanese hop-fields is today about 350 ha and the harvest less than 620 tons per year.
In 1907, i.e. 10 years before the species "Shinshuu Wase" appeared, the Kirin brewery had started to deliver the hop of the Žatec region. So the domestic hop cultivated from the mother hop of the Žatec region and the imported hop of the Žatec region appeared at the same time. That gave a new direction in the Japanese brewery and the way to pleasant bitterness and fine aroma, typical for the hop of the Žatec region, was opened. This characteristic is kept also today as the main stream in the beer production in Japan. The softness of the hop of the Žatec region probably corresponds with the traditional taste of Japanese people. Japanese breweries struggle for the beer production of the Pilsen type which is able to satisfy the taste requirements of the present consumer. We assume that the importance of Osvalďs clones will keep growing in this request. Some Japanese breweries - their importance is not still very great -brew their beer only from the hop of the Žatec region. For example the trade mark "Fuji-san" from the Asahi brewery or "Edelpils" and "Classic" from Sapporo brewery or "Pils" from Orion brewery belong among them. These trade marks are recognised as the high quality beers in Japan. Through the production of these kinds of beers, we see the right and proper understanding of the fact that the fine aromatic hop provides beer not only with the pleasant aroma but also with the courtesy and refined bitterness and higher drinkability .
Delivery of the hop of the Žatec region to Japan started 100 years ago but it was interrupted by the two world wars. Namely the interruption from the beginning of WWII to the after-war period lasted too long. During this break the Japanese breweries didn't have access to the hop of the Žatec region, even though it was their basic production ingredient. The hop of the Žatec region became an inaccessible dream for Japanese brewers.
In November 1957 the president of the Niechetsu Corporation I visited Prague. It was the first business trip by a Japanese business- man to Czechoslovakia after WWII. The hop of the Žatec region, the malt of Moravia and other items were among the main commodities which should - according to the opinion of this mission's leader - start the business exchange between both countries. Japanese industry welcomed this idea on how to fill the vacuum from the past and the industry representatives started to prepare themselves for the acceptance of this species. Osvalďs clones were among the first items entered on the pages of the history of the Japanese-Czech business relationships after WWII and they became the biggest export commodity between Czechoslovakia to Japan. Since that time Nichietsu Corporation has delivered approximately 60,000 tons of Osvalďs clones hop for recent 40 years.
The hop export started very easily, but in the 70.s some problems with its quality occurred. Values of alpha acids, which were on average about 5.5% in the 60's, started to decrease and they decreased down to only 3.5% in the 80's. Those values are incomprehensible for a person who knew the values of the alpha acids of the original Osvalďs clones. We tried to find out the real cause of this decrease and thought about various possible hypotheses, as for example that the reason could be the total change of the climate, usage of synthetic fertilisers, introduction of mechanisation etc. However, all the considerations were in vain and the situation was at an impasse. Today, I may confess that when I and the Czech visitor - vicepresident of Chmelařství - visited a shintoistic temple in Kjóto, we prayed for the original content of the alpha acids to the Japanese gods. That problem was naturally very serious for the Japanese breweries. They tried to eliminate the influence of the alpha acids decrease by usage of the hop of the Žatec region together with other kinds of hop or by usage of pelletised 45 hop or by another way. If Japanese breweries had stopped importation of the hop of the Žatec region altogether, its position on the world markets would have been much worse. By that time we realised what was the real importance of our traditional customers.
In 1987 we were already sure - after years of trials and faults - that the real cause could be a virus. We had to cultivate a virus-free hop for trial. We obtained permission from the managing director of Chmelařství and the director of the Výzkumný ústav chmelařský very easily and we obtained the strong support from the Japanese brewery Sapporo in the scientific-technical field. So the new project for liquidation of viruses and curing of Osvalďs clones was created and its aim was to return to their original health state. In the spring of 1989 the agreement between the given subjects was made and we started to realise our plan. 10 years have passed since that time and we believe that the health state of all three Osvalďs clones has become successfully better. However, we have still many problems of maintaining the appropriate quality of the clones through permanent checking and of preserving the appropriate quality of the cured plants on a wider scale.
It is our responsibility to give over the results of dr. Osvalďs life work to the coming generation undamaged. We will keep making an effort to fulfil this task by our business activities and scientific-technical support as well.