The Scottish mother of Japanese whisky
This is a tale of love and romance, of war and whisky. It is also the story of a woman who fell in love with both a man and his country, and who made a journey from Scotland to the Land of the Rising Sun in order to follow her heart and her dream.
Quite how a doctor’s refi ned, elegant daughter gave up everything she knew to take Scotland’s national drink to the other side of the world is almost the stuff of mythology. After all, brought up in a middle- class home, Rita Cowan’s childhood was a typical one, involving governesses, piano lessons and exposure to languages and the arts. As she grew into adulthood, she expected to marry her Scottish fiancé and live the uneventful, traditional life that she and her parents had planned and expected of her.
They had not foreseen the advent of the First World War, however. By the end of those four long years, Rita’s fiancé had been killed, and her beloved father died soon after. Struggling financially with the household, Rita’s mother was forced to take in a lodger. Despite some objections from her conservative neighbours, Mrs Cowan accepted a young 25-year-old man from Japan, Masataka Taketsuru, recently enrolled at the University of Glasgow. But neither she nor her daughter could have foreseen the long-term results of this decision.
Within months, Rita had started to fall in love with Taketsuru, the handsome student of organic chemistry. That fi rst winter of his arrival as a boarder, the relationship blossomed as they sang duets of Auld Lang Syne, and looked together for the ring and the sixpence in the Christmas pudding. Even in those early days their relationship was strong – some might say stubborn; it had to be, for they faced opposition from both sides of the family. No one thought that Rita would really go through with the wedding, but they had underestimated her passion and strong will. Rita was determined to follow her heart, wherever it would lead.
It was to lead to Japan, her new husband’s homeland. After the marriage, at Calton Registry Office near Glasgow in January 1920, the brave young woman left behind her home and her family to travel thousands of miles to Japan.
Her new husband, Masataka, whom she nicknamed Massan, was known as a ‘socially clumsy dreamer’. While studying at Glasgow University, he had travelled all around Scotland to follow his true passion: making Scotch whisky. He had worked for a drinks company in Japan, which sent him to study the distilleries of the region and the whisky production methods. Armed with his research and his passion, and with Rita by his side, they made the long journey together.
Japan was not the same as when Masataka had left it: recession had hit in the wake of the world war. But however hard he found it to reacclimatise, the change was even more dramatic for his new wife.
She had been born in 1896 in Kirkintilloch, a small town near Glasgow; now she was on the other side of the world, in an alien land, with strange food, unfamiliar customs and a language of which she knew nothing. Her sister, Lucy, to whom she had sadly had to say goodbye, thought Rita incredibly brave; others thought her foolish. But the characteristics that had made Masataka fall in love with her – passion, resilience, determination – once again stood her in good stead.
While her husband quickly became disillusioned with his old company, which had become more interested in quick profi ts than quality whisky, Rita set about integrating herself into the culture and customs of her new homeland. By 1923, Shinjiro Torii – founder of the Suntory group – had heard of Masataka’s experience in Scotland and hired him to help build a whisky distillery in Yamazaki, Kyoto. Rita was happy as she believed her husband would now be able to put his passion into practice, and for six years she continued to teach English as well as build up her own language skills in Japanese.
Unfortunately, Masataka was not as happy, and once again he resigned; it was becoming obvious that he would have to set up his own firm if he was to fulfi l his dream. Thanks to Rita, who had been teaching English to the wife of Shotaro Kaga, a successful businessman, investors were found to back the project. So, in 1934, Dai Nihon Kaju – now known as Nikka Whisky – was set up. The distillery was at Yoichi on the island of Hokkaido, built in the Scottish style – it even had heather planted around the door.
Against all advice, Masataka believed that Yoichi’s underdeveloped and almost inhospitable land was ideal, with its access to barley, peat, coal and water, all of which were necessary for good whisky production. Rita joined her husband there ayear later, in 1935, and had to learn to speak Japanese with a dialect that was very unlike her Kyoto one.
But just as Rita began to feel that at last she had been completely accepted, the outbreak of the Second World War threatened her very existence. The confl ict meant that imported Scotch whisky fast became unavailable, so the Yoichi distillery was classified as a war industry and went on to make its fi rst profi t in 1940. However, for Rita the war was not such a blessing.
By now a Japanese citizen, she had avoided internment, but was nonetheless regarded with suspicion as a possible spy by the Japanese. The feared secret police believed that she had radio equipment, and despite her strenuous denials, Rita found herself under immense pressure to admit to it. She was then accused of sending radio messages to Allied submarines and had to endure raids on her home; even her neighbours turned against her, especially after Pearl Harbour, throwing stones at her house and refusing to talk to her.
In a few short months her status as a successful wife and partner of a highly regarded Japanese businessman had disappeared, and she was, to all intents and purposes, shunned.
But Rita managed to remain strong, and the end of the war saw a further increase in the distillery’s prosperity. The couple had been unable to have children, so had no male heir (having adopted a girl, Rima, in 1930), so they took in Takeshi, Masataka’s 20-year-old nephew, who later married and gave Rita two grandchildren, upon whom she doted.
Before the war, Rita’s last trip home to Scotland had been in 1931; it was not until 1959 that her younger sister, Lucy, travelled to Yoichi to see her. Two years later, in January 1961, Rita died after a long struggle with liver disease. A distraught and heartbroken Masataka survived her by 18 years; they are buried together on a hillside near the distillery.
Yoichi’s main road is now named Rita Road and she has also given her name to a kindergarten that she helped to establish. As planned, Takeshi took over Nikka Whisky – it is now owned by the Asahi fi rm, which runs the Ben Nevis Distillery in Fort William, Scotland.
In 1998, a museum was built in memory of Rita and her husband. Among other things, it features a mock-up of Rita’s living room and Scottish-style dining room. One of Rita’s great-nephews, Harry Hogan, made the trip from his home in Glasgow to Japan for the opening. In 2007, the Taketsuru blended malt whisky was declared the best in the world, and in 2008 the single malt received the same accolade – and has continued to do so.
To this day, a fan club exists in Rita Taketsuru’s name. Pilgrimages are made to the burial site of the mother and father of Japanese whisky, and legions of Japanese admirers bring off erings as if to the gods: Scottish off erings, of heather and honey in jars, of oatcakes and foil-wrapped haggis. It could be said that Rita personifi es all that is good about her award-winning whisky, for she had blended two nations and two cultures and out of that blend had produced something quite remarkable.
News of a new 150-episode television series in Japan on the life of Rita Cowan has resurrected interest in this Scottish woman who took whisky to her adopted country.
Perhaps, though, the true legacy Rita leaves behind is a more personal one: her love story, along with her determination and faith to follow her dream halfway around the world, has stood the test of time and still inspires today.
The World Atlas Of Whisky, by Dave Broom, is published by Mitchell Beazley, priced £30.
Japanese Whisky, Scotch Blend: The Japanese Whisky King And His Scotch Wife Rita, by Olive Checkland, is available on Amazon.
Quite how a doctor’s refi ned, elegant daughter gave up everything she knew to take Scotland’s national drink to the other side of the world is almost the stuff of mythology. After all, brought up in a middle- class home, Rita Cowan’s childhood was a typical one, involving governesses, piano lessons and exposure to languages and the arts. As she grew into adulthood, she expected to marry her Scottish fiancé and live the uneventful, traditional life that she and her parents had planned and expected of her.
They had not foreseen the advent of the First World War, however. By the end of those four long years, Rita’s fiancé had been killed, and her beloved father died soon after. Struggling financially with the household, Rita’s mother was forced to take in a lodger. Despite some objections from her conservative neighbours, Mrs Cowan accepted a young 25-year-old man from Japan, Masataka Taketsuru, recently enrolled at the University of Glasgow. But neither she nor her daughter could have foreseen the long-term results of this decision.
Within months, Rita had started to fall in love with Taketsuru, the handsome student of organic chemistry. That fi rst winter of his arrival as a boarder, the relationship blossomed as they sang duets of Auld Lang Syne, and looked together for the ring and the sixpence in the Christmas pudding. Even in those early days their relationship was strong – some might say stubborn; it had to be, for they faced opposition from both sides of the family. No one thought that Rita would really go through with the wedding, but they had underestimated her passion and strong will. Rita was determined to follow her heart, wherever it would lead.
It was to lead to Japan, her new husband’s homeland. After the marriage, at Calton Registry Office near Glasgow in January 1920, the brave young woman left behind her home and her family to travel thousands of miles to Japan.
Her new husband, Masataka, whom she nicknamed Massan, was known as a ‘socially clumsy dreamer’. While studying at Glasgow University, he had travelled all around Scotland to follow his true passion: making Scotch whisky. He had worked for a drinks company in Japan, which sent him to study the distilleries of the region and the whisky production methods. Armed with his research and his passion, and with Rita by his side, they made the long journey together.
Japan was not the same as when Masataka had left it: recession had hit in the wake of the world war. But however hard he found it to reacclimatise, the change was even more dramatic for his new wife.
She had been born in 1896 in Kirkintilloch, a small town near Glasgow; now she was on the other side of the world, in an alien land, with strange food, unfamiliar customs and a language of which she knew nothing. Her sister, Lucy, to whom she had sadly had to say goodbye, thought Rita incredibly brave; others thought her foolish. But the characteristics that had made Masataka fall in love with her – passion, resilience, determination – once again stood her in good stead.
While her husband quickly became disillusioned with his old company, which had become more interested in quick profi ts than quality whisky, Rita set about integrating herself into the culture and customs of her new homeland. By 1923, Shinjiro Torii – founder of the Suntory group – had heard of Masataka’s experience in Scotland and hired him to help build a whisky distillery in Yamazaki, Kyoto. Rita was happy as she believed her husband would now be able to put his passion into practice, and for six years she continued to teach English as well as build up her own language skills in Japanese.
Unfortunately, Masataka was not as happy, and once again he resigned; it was becoming obvious that he would have to set up his own firm if he was to fulfi l his dream. Thanks to Rita, who had been teaching English to the wife of Shotaro Kaga, a successful businessman, investors were found to back the project. So, in 1934, Dai Nihon Kaju – now known as Nikka Whisky – was set up. The distillery was at Yoichi on the island of Hokkaido, built in the Scottish style – it even had heather planted around the door.
Against all advice, Masataka believed that Yoichi’s underdeveloped and almost inhospitable land was ideal, with its access to barley, peat, coal and water, all of which were necessary for good whisky production. Rita joined her husband there ayear later, in 1935, and had to learn to speak Japanese with a dialect that was very unlike her Kyoto one.
But just as Rita began to feel that at last she had been completely accepted, the outbreak of the Second World War threatened her very existence. The confl ict meant that imported Scotch whisky fast became unavailable, so the Yoichi distillery was classified as a war industry and went on to make its fi rst profi t in 1940. However, for Rita the war was not such a blessing.
By now a Japanese citizen, she had avoided internment, but was nonetheless regarded with suspicion as a possible spy by the Japanese. The feared secret police believed that she had radio equipment, and despite her strenuous denials, Rita found herself under immense pressure to admit to it. She was then accused of sending radio messages to Allied submarines and had to endure raids on her home; even her neighbours turned against her, especially after Pearl Harbour, throwing stones at her house and refusing to talk to her.
In a few short months her status as a successful wife and partner of a highly regarded Japanese businessman had disappeared, and she was, to all intents and purposes, shunned.
But Rita managed to remain strong, and the end of the war saw a further increase in the distillery’s prosperity. The couple had been unable to have children, so had no male heir (having adopted a girl, Rima, in 1930), so they took in Takeshi, Masataka’s 20-year-old nephew, who later married and gave Rita two grandchildren, upon whom she doted.
Before the war, Rita’s last trip home to Scotland had been in 1931; it was not until 1959 that her younger sister, Lucy, travelled to Yoichi to see her. Two years later, in January 1961, Rita died after a long struggle with liver disease. A distraught and heartbroken Masataka survived her by 18 years; they are buried together on a hillside near the distillery.
Yoichi’s main road is now named Rita Road and she has also given her name to a kindergarten that she helped to establish. As planned, Takeshi took over Nikka Whisky – it is now owned by the Asahi fi rm, which runs the Ben Nevis Distillery in Fort William, Scotland.
In 1998, a museum was built in memory of Rita and her husband. Among other things, it features a mock-up of Rita’s living room and Scottish-style dining room. One of Rita’s great-nephews, Harry Hogan, made the trip from his home in Glasgow to Japan for the opening. In 2007, the Taketsuru blended malt whisky was declared the best in the world, and in 2008 the single malt received the same accolade – and has continued to do so.
To this day, a fan club exists in Rita Taketsuru’s name. Pilgrimages are made to the burial site of the mother and father of Japanese whisky, and legions of Japanese admirers bring off erings as if to the gods: Scottish off erings, of heather and honey in jars, of oatcakes and foil-wrapped haggis. It could be said that Rita personifi es all that is good about her award-winning whisky, for she had blended two nations and two cultures and out of that blend had produced something quite remarkable.
News of a new 150-episode television series in Japan on the life of Rita Cowan has resurrected interest in this Scottish woman who took whisky to her adopted country.
Perhaps, though, the true legacy Rita leaves behind is a more personal one: her love story, along with her determination and faith to follow her dream halfway around the world, has stood the test of time and still inspires today.
The World Atlas Of Whisky, by Dave Broom, is published by Mitchell Beazley, priced £30.
Japanese Whisky, Scotch Blend: The Japanese Whisky King And His Scotch Wife Rita, by Olive Checkland, is available on Amazon.