Traditional sake brewed with hot spring water and tea

Ide Sake Brewery was founded when the founder, Yoshitaro Ide, started a sake brewing business using the pure water of the Ureshino River while devoting himself to researching and exporting Ureshino tea. Blessed with fertile soil and abundant water, and located in a basin surrounded by mountains, Ide Sake Brewery has continued to produce the Izumito sake.

The second generation, Matajiro Ide, suffered a huge loss in business failure, but he persevered and succeeded in getting the business back on track. In the late Taisho period, he set up a sales store in Sasebo, which had become an urbanized naval port. Matajiro also became president of Ureshino Onsen Co., Ltd., and worked hard for his hometown, protecting the traditions of sake and hot springs.

The origins of Ide Shuzo's flavor lie in Ureshino Onsen and Ureshino tea. Hot spring water flows from the brewery, and the sake bottles in which the sake is filled are also washed with hot spring water.

All the brewers are tea farmers, who grow Ureshino tea from spring to autumn and brew sake only in the winter. During the peak brewing season, the brewers stay overnight at the brewery and brew sake in harmony while relaxing in their own hot springs.

"Toranoko" was also a favorite of Santoka Taneda

The founder of the company named the representative brand "Toranoko" with the hope that "a tiger has a deep affection for its cubs, and I hope that people will show compassion like the tiger's cubs and drink it for a long time. And I hope that the name will resonate far and wide, like a tiger that can run a thousand miles." It is a rare brand that is rarely sold outside of Saga Prefecture.

Toranoko is brewed by master brewer Yamaguchi, who has inherited the traditions and knowledge that have been passed down since the Meiji era, and is brewed with careful and time-consuming work. It has been brewed every day since the company was founded. The long-term low-temperature fermentation gives it a fragrant aroma and makes it easy to drink, making it a delicious drink to enjoy after a soak in a hot spring.

The haiku poet Santoka Taneda visited Ureshino, fell in love with "Toranoko," and wrote in his travel journal "Gyokotsuki" that he drank to his heart's content. A stone monument bearing Santoka's haiku is placed in front of Ide Sake Brewery, conveying its charm to the present day.

"Toranoko" label on the cover of JAXA's "Hayabusa" performance calculation report

In 2003, Toranoko was selected from a number of sake lists and the label was used as the cover of JAXA's Hayabusa performance calculation report (flight experiment plan). Over the course of more than 130 years, the feelings that the founder put into Toranoko were conveyed in a form other than sake.

Ide Shuzo is known as a rare brewery run by women for three consecutive generations, which is rare in the male-dominated sake industry. The current head of the brewery, Atsuko Azuma, became the sixth generation owner in 2 and took over the family business from her mother, Yoko Ide.

Together with the tea farmers and brewers, they continue to take on new challenges while preserving traditions and taking advantage of the local climate of hot springs and tea. Inheriting the techniques and spirit nurtured over their long history, Ide Sake Brewery will continue to brew one-of-a-kind sake in Ureshino.