Choshu Sake Brewery

Choshu Sake Brewery Co., Ltd. is a sake brewery in Kikugawa-cho, Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, Japan. Its founding is dated to 1871, and its company establishment to 1952. It succeeded the sake business of Kodama Sake Brewery, a long-established brewery founded in 1871 that operated in Kikugawa-cho for 149 years, and began new sake brewing from Reiwa 2 (2020). Alongside the locally familiar Kodama Sake Brewery label Nagato Kikugawa, the brewery created a new sake named Tenbi. Its parent company is Choshu Sangyo, a manufacturer headquartered in Sanyo-Onoda, Yamaguchi, whose main business is solar power generation systems. The new brewery building was completed on December 26, 2019. The company is led by representative director and president Susumu Okamoto.

Choshu Sake Brewery Co., Ltd. is based in Kikugawa-cho, Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi. Its founding is dated to 1871, with company establishment in 1952. In Reiwa 1 (2019), the company built a new brewery in Kikugawa, an area that once had four sake breweries. Over time the number of breweries declined, and the last remaining was Kodama Sake Brewery Co., Ltd. Kodama Sake Brewery was founded in 1871 and continued in Kikugawa-cho, Shimonoseki for 149 years; the Kikugawa (Koyagawa) river flowing nearby had long been known as famous water for sake brewing. Choshu Sangyo, the parent company of Choshu Sake Brewery, is a manufacturer headquartered in Sanyo-Onoda, Yamaguchi, whose main business is solar power generation systems. While searching for abundant, high-quality water needed for its business, it came to Kodama Sake Brewery in Kikugawa-cho, Shimonoseki. Kodama Sake Brewery was a brewery beloved locally under the Nagato Kikugawa label since its founding in 1871. Its sixth-generation president, Tsuyoshi Kodama, had stopped brewing about 15 years earlier due to advanced age and had kept the brewery going by selling sake purchased from other companies. Choshu Sangyo decided to take over the business. The old brewery was demolished, and a challenge began with a toji from a different industry and another prefecture. No one had experience building a new brewery, but they pooled their knowledge and continued trial and error, and on December 26, 2019, the new brewery was completed. Choshu Sake Brewery succeeded the business of Kodama Sake Brewery and began new sake brewing from Reiwa 2 (2020). Alongside the locally familiar Kodama Sake Brewery label Nagato Kikugawa, the new sake created by Choshu Sake Brewery is named Tenbi, taking one character each from Amaterasu, a traditional Japanese deity associated with the sun that nurtures rice, and biroku, another name meaning sake.

• Tenbi Tokubetsu Junmai (Black Ten)

• Tenbi Junmai Ginjo (White Ten)

• Tenbi Junmai Daiginjo

• Tenbi Shinshu Junmai Ginjo Nigori Nama (Snow Ten)

• Tenbi Junmai Ginjo Usu Nigori Nama Genshu (Peach Ten)

• Tenbi Tokubetsu Junmai Karaten

• Tenbi Junmai Daiginjo Akaiwa Omachi Rice

• Tenbi Junmai Daiginjo Hiroshima Senbon Nishiki

• Tenbi Junmai Daiginjo Choshu Yamada Nishiki

1. 1「天美」「長門菊川」醸造元｜長州酒造株式会社choshusake.com
2. 2酒蔵の歴史 - 長州酒造株式会社choshusake.com
3. 3会社概要 - 長州酒造株式会社choshusake.com
4. 4商品一覧 - 長州酒造株式会社choshusake.com
5. 5Choshu Sake Brewerywikidata.org