Tomita Sake Brewery
Tomita Sake Brewery was founded in 1534 and is one of Japan’s oldest sake breweries. Their signature sake is Shichihonyari (“Seven Spears”), named after the seven samurai who helped Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598), local warlord and eventual de facto ruler of all Japan, defeat the powerful general Shibata Katsuie (1522–1583) at the Battle of Shizugatake in 1583. Shichihonyari is made with local ingredients, including water from Mt. Ibuki and organic rice grown in Nagahama. The current building dates to 1744.
Yamaji Sake Brewery
Travelers in the late Edo period (1603–1867) rested and changed their horses at the relay station that was next to the Yamaji Sake Brewery. This history is immortalized in the name of the brewery’s Hokkoku Kaidō sake. Yamaji is renowned today as the only brewery in Japan that makes kuwazake, a sweet sake flavored with mulberry leaves. Founded in 1532, Yamaji Sake Brewery is believed to be the fourth-oldest sake brewery in Japan.
