Our Commitment to Sake Brewing

With the 2007 brewing season, the "Master Craftsman of Contemporary Japan", Bitchū Toji Junichi Otsuka, who had supported the taste of Sanko Masamune for more than 50 years, retired.

From November 2008, master brewer Takagaki Katsumasa, renowned nationwide for winning numerous awards with "Okuharima" and "Housui", joined us, and a new challenge for "Sanko Masamune" began.
Takagaki Toji says that sake brewing is about listening to the voice of the rice. While preserving tradition, he brings a fresh breeze to our brewery.

* A Toji is a specialist in sake brewing technique and the chief person responsible for sake production, entrusted with caring for the sake and leading the brewery workers.

Yamada Nishiki is one of the finest sake rice varieties. It is mainly used in the brewing of sake and is regarded as a representative sake-brewing rice.
As a leading example of ideal sake rice, Yamada Nishiki has since its introduction come to dominate the top ranks at the National New Sake Appraisal.
Omachi, meanwhile, is the ancestor of Yamada Nishiki and a sake rice native to Okayama Prefecture. Cultivation was once discontinued, and the variety was said to be a legendary sake rice.
In recent years it has been revived, mainly by breweries in Okayama Prefecture, and has become one of the most popular sake rice varieties nationwide.

Our brewery uses these sake-brewing rice varieties, mainly Yamada Nishiki and Omachi.
For Yamada Nishiki and Omachi, we use rice grown under contract in local Niimi City※1.
For other sake rice as well, we use all domestically produced rice, and, unless there are special circumstances, rice from Okayama Prefecture.

※1 In the event of special circumstances affecting procurement, such as natural disasters, rice from other regions may be used.

The Takahashi River is a class A river flowing through western Okayama Prefecture and the main stream of the Takahashi River system. It is one of the three major rivers of Okayama, along with the Yoshii River and the Asahi River.
Its source is the Kamishiro River, which flows along the eastern foot of Mount Hanami, near Aketo Pass on the Tottori Prefecture border. From there it passes through Takahashi City and Soja City, then flows into Mizushima Bay in Kurashiki City.

The sake of Sanko Masamune is born from the waters of this beautiful Kamishiro River.