Koyama Shuzou

When it comes to Japanese sake, there are many brands in Japan, especially in the countryside. In Japan, locally produced sake is called jizake. However, jizake is not only produced in the countryside but also in Tokyo. In fact, the Koyama Sake Brewing Company is located in Tokyo, and is the only sakagura (sake brewery) in the 23 wards of Tokyo. For more than 130 years, they have been using the spring water pumped from 130m deep underground and Yamadanishiki rice which is the best rice for sake brewing, to make Marushinmasamune sake, which is as highly regarded as the world-famous sake Dassai. Because of its scarcity, its taste and its long history, it is not an overstatement to call it the jizake of Edo.

The last sakagura (sake brewery) in Tokyo’s 23 wards is easily acccessible (5 minutes work from Akabaneiwabuchi station) and is surrounding by superb views. From late March to early April, you can enjoy the cherry blossom along the Arakawa River. There are not as many people as at the famous tourist places, and there are still large green tracts of land, under a blue sky and with a pleasant breeze from the river: you can enjoy cherry blossoms just like Japanese families do. Admiring the beauty of cherry blossoms with a glass of Marushinmasamune in your hand is a wonderful experience. If you are lucky, you might also see Mount Fuji!

Even when it is not the cherry blossom season, you can enjoy a sake brewing tour. Because the local temperature has risen as a result of of the surrounding concrete buildings, the sake brewery is not in the original building but is housed in a modern building to make it easier to control the temperature during the sake making process. Even so, you can still find pillars and beams and a Japanese room from original building and which which were reused for the present construction. Once you find them, you can travel back 100 years in time to when the original building was built. You might even find pillars and beams which are older than Koyama, as some of the pillars and beams were brought from the other sake brewers when their businesses closed. Also, there are old sake-making tools and signs which you are welcome to handle. You can ask the staff if you would like to try on a happi coat, the traditional workwear of the sake brewer. The Matsuo shrine, which is located in the sake brewery premises and is dedicated to the god of alcohol, is also worth a visit. It is very unusual in Japan to have a shrine and a sake brewery in the same premises.

After the sake brewing tour, you do a tasting of the jizake produced here. Usually at tastings you can only try the most common brands. Here, however, you can taste the full range from the most common to the most highly prized. The staff there will be happy to explain which sake goes best with Japanese, Western and Chinese foods.

In order to let more people experience the charm of sake, there is a free English language brochure.