Ahead of CRAFT SAKE WEEK, we traveled to Tochigi Prefecture to visit two of the region’s most respected breweries: Kobayashi Shuzo and Senkin.
Neither typically offers public tours. That made this a genuinely unique opportunity, not just to taste sake, but to step inside the kura and experience the process firsthand, guided by the brewers themselves.
(Main image: Timothy Sullivan/LIVE JAPAN)
How a Love of Sake Led Me Across Japan
The author, enjoying a sip at a Tokyo sake bar. (Photo: Timothy Sullivan/LIVE JAPAN)
For over 17 years, I have adored the world of sake. From Hokkaido to Kyushu, many of my travels around the country have led me to peaceful, more rural areas, and whenever I note that a place is surrounded by rice fields, I tend to search around for the local sake brewery.
While many breweries do not offer tours without contact in advance, many have a sales section where you can get a sense of the brewery and its products. And, for me, this is also a great chance to meet some of the people of the brewery and understand their character.
Now, in the world of sake brewing, there is a long-standing system centered around the toji, or master brewer. Toji oversee every stage of the brewing process. Historically, they formed regional guilds (known as ryuha), where they shared techniques, trained kurabito (brewery workers), and organized seasonal labor, among other things. While more than 30 toji guilds have existed across the Japan, the most influential are known as the “Three Great Toji”: Nanbu Toji (Iwate Prefecture), Echigo Toji (Niigata Prefecture), and Tamba Toji (Hyogo Prefecture).
While many breweries have shifted toward having in-house toji and year-round employed staff, there remains a strong exchange of brewing techniques among local brewers, and, often, a strong, supportive relationship with mutual respect.
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“Craft Is the Maker’s Atmosphere” (Kobayashi Shuzo/Hououbiden)
CEO Masaki Kobayashi (Photo: Timothy Sullivan/LIVE JAPAN)
At Kobayashi Shuzo, we were welcomed by CEO Masaki Kobayashi and his wife, and toji, Mayumi Kobayashi. Previously an instructor with the Nanbu Toji, Mayumi brings a wealth of skill and knowledge, and her direction has helped elevate Kobayashi Shuzo’s signature brand, Hououbiden, to become a greatly respected sake. Established in 1872 in Oyama, Tochigi, the brewery is located in a small village surrounded by vast green fields of rice. Now, Kobayashi Shuzo has two brewery facilities: a modern plant complete with equipment that helps tightly monitor and regulate each stage of production, and an older facility that produces sake with much more hands-on intervention.
(Photo: Timothy Sullivan/LIVE JAPAN)
Their philosophy came through immediately. “When I think about craft sake,” Masaki explaine…
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