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Pure mountain water, quality local-grown rice and a cold winter are the essential factors in making tasty sake, and Takayama City is blessed with the perfect brewing conditions. There has been commercial sake brewing in the city since the early 1700’s and there are 8 breweries in the city, each selling its own unique variety.
Daily brewery tours run from 10:00 to 12:00 and from 13:00 to 16:00 from January 11 until March 31. Each of the city’s 8 breweries are open to the public one week at a time, provide a free guided tour that includes sake sampling and a commemorative golden sake cup is presented to each visitor.
All 8 breweries are within 15 minutes walk of JR Takayama Station and are located within a few blocks of each other. A detailed map showing location of each brewery can be seen below. For more information, call the Takayama City Department of Tourism at 0577-35-3145.
B Jan 18 to 24 - Hirase Brewery 平瀬酒造店 C Jan 25 to 31- Tanabe Brewery 田邊酒造場 D Feb 1 to 7 & Mar 8 to 13 - Oita Brewery老田酒造店
E Feb 8 to 14 & Mar 14 to 19 - Hunasaka Brewery
舩坂酒造店 G Feb 22 to 28 & Mar 26 to 31 - Harada Brewery原田酒造場 H March 1 to 7 - Kawajiri Brewery川尻酒造場
Hanging from the eaves in front of every sake brewery in Japan, including the 8 in Takayama, is a bush-like bundle called a sugidama. Sugidama are made by packing branch cuttings of the conifer-like sugi tree into a large beachball-sized bundle. Sugidama are displayed for a whole year, during which time they turn a brown colour. When the yearly fresh batch of sake has been brewed, the old sugidama are taken down and new, fresh, green sugidama are put in their place. Sake is traditionally brewed in the cold weather between December and March, and is common to see the fresh, green sugidama during this time. For more information about the history of sake and its brewing process please visit www.sake-world.com. |
Takayama Sake Brewery Tour
