Yorozuya Jozoten was founded in 1790 and we have been brewing sake for more than 230 years here in Fujikawa Town. The founder, Yorozuya Hachigoro opened a sake brewery on our current location and established a brand called “Ichiriki Masamune”.
In 1933, Akiko Yosano, a poet, and her husband Tekkan, who were close friends with the sixth generation owner through cultural exchanges, stayed at the brewery when travelling along Kaiji. During their stay at the brewery, Akiko Yosano wrote a tanka poem about the sake she enjoyed at the brewery and used the word “Shunnouten”. The owner then was moved by the tanka poem and changed the brand name to “Shunnouten”, which means “warblers singing in spring”. That was the inspiration for the brand name change.

As Yorozuya Jozoten's sake is “jizake” (local artisan sake), we are very particular about "sticking to local" when it comes to "sake rice", "water" and "people we work with", which are our three strong points.

The first point is "water"
The water we use to make our sake is from Southern Alps mountain range in Yamanashi Prefecture. Yamanashi Prefecture produces more than 40% of Japan’s mineral water including water from Mt. Fuji. It is truly a gift of Yamanashi’s nature.

The second point is "sake rice"
We established “Shunnouten Sake Rice Promotion Council” with local farmers and have been working with them for more than 10 years. We are particular about using sake rice grown by the local contract farmers. That is because sake rice grown using water from the local area is a good match with sake made with the same water.

The third point is "people we work with"
During the sake brewing season, our contract farmers come to our brewery to discuss the quality of that year’s rice with our chief brewer and assist with brewing. These days, there are few breweries like this in Japan.