This tour requires advance booking. Please make your reservation through our website.
Reservations are accepted until 12:00 PM (noon) two days prior to your desired tour date.

Please note that all reservations are processed as requests.
We will contact you later to confirm your booking status.

Ticket exchange is required for this tour.
Please visit the Takayama Nohi Bus Terminal ticket counter before boarding the bus to receive your ticket and other documents.

Board the 9:10 AM bus bound for Hida-Furukawa Station from bus stop #2 at the Takayama Nohi Bus Terminal.

Alight at the final stop, “Hida-Furukawa Station Bus Stop.”

Hourai Sake Brewery is approximately a 6-minute walk from the “Hida-Furukawa Station” bus stop. Please enjoy the townscape as you make your way to the brewery by the 10:20 AM tour start time.

The staff of Hourai Sake Brewery will guide you through an authentic sake brewery, not a tourist attraction!
Take your time and enjoy the sake brewery in Hida-Furukawa, which has been designated as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan.

Along the way to the brewing area, you’ll find displays of rice plants of various varieties from all over Japan.
The final product of sake changes greatly depending on the type of rice and the rice polishing ratio. Before seeing the actual sake brewing process, let’s learn the secrets of the differences in sake!

After putting on your protective gear (gown, cap, and mask) and sanitizing, you’re ready to go! Now, let’s explore the brewing area!

The automatic rice washing machine uses data to control the water absorption time during rice washing, and automatically adjusts the washing, soaking, and dehydration processes based on this data.

The steaming machine is used to steam the sake rice. The sake rice washed by the automatic rice washing machine is placed in the pot.

Inside the pot, the rice is arranged according to its purpose, with the “koji rice” (used for making koji) generally placed on top and the “kakemai” (used for fermentation) on the bottom. The rice is steamed for about one hour after the steam rises to the top of the pot.

Strong steam is needed to achieve the “hard on the outside, soft on the inside” texture. The largest pot can steam approximately 1,500 kg of sake rice.

The koji room, or simply “muro,” is the place or room where koji is made.

Sake is mainly brewed during the cold season, but because koji mold requires a high cultivation temperature (30°C to 40°C) and moderate humidity, a room (muro) that is isolated from the outside air is necessary for koji making!

These tanks are used to prepare and ferment the sake mash.
Interestingly, these tanks are played “Manzai” (Japanese stand-up comedy) 24 hours a day, 365 days a year!
It is said that the sake mash, rice, water, and koji will laugh and create a delicious sake!

The sake brewing tanks are covered with handwritten messages from visitors who have toured the brewery or attended events such as the brewery festival!

It is said that writing positive and heartwarming messages such as “Thank you” or “May it become delicious” will create beautiful water crystal formations, resulting in even more delicious sake.

Please write a message and help us make Watanabe Sake Brewery’s sake even more delicious!

You can also enjoy a tasting of a “completely non-selling premium sake” that is only available to those who participate in the brewery tour in front of the “Thank You” tank.

After the tour, you can enjoy sake tasting at our one-coin server and shopping at our shop.

In addition to our standard year-round products and seasonal sake, we also offer a wide selection of “store-exclusive sake” that can only be purchased at our brewery’s direct sales shop.

Please take your time and enjoy sake tasting and shopping to your heart’s content.

Many koi swim in the Setogawa River, which flows right behind Watanabe Sake Brewery.

Enjoy a relaxing and therapeutic time interacting with the koi!

Please check the Furukawa-Kamioka Line timetable[here]

Thank you for your participation!