Yamaguchi's local sake "Gokyo" is recognized nationwide

Kintaikyo Bridge, a beautiful wooden five-arch bridge, is known as one of the three most famous bridges in Japan. The bridge spans the clear Nishiki River in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Sakai Sake Brewery has its brewery in the delta of the Nishiki River, where abundant water veins that spring from the surrounding mountains converge. Their representative brand, Gokyo, is named after Kintaikyo Bridge, and is imbued with the idea of ​​"building a bridge between hearts."

Since its founding in 4, Sakai Sake Brewery has been working hard to brew sake in a traditional manner, based on the philosophy of "doing the obvious things in an obvious way," in this area blessed with the abundant waters of the Nishiki River.
In 1947, "Gokyo" won first place at the National New Sake Tasting Competition. At the time, many sake breweries in the sake industry used hard water, but this showed that "good sake can be made with super soft water," and the name of "Gokyo", with its soft mouthfeel and rich aroma unique to soft water brewing, spread throughout the country.

We focus on the rice, water, and people that are cultivated in the right climate

The foundation of sake brewing at Sakai Sake Brewery is the harmony of rice, water, and people nurtured by the climate of Yamaguchi. Believing that the origin of sake brewing is rice cultivation, the previous brewery owner, Sakai Yu, said, "A sake brewery shouldn't be ignorant of rice," and in 1996, he began contract cultivation with a nearby farmer who is passionate about research. Furthermore, as the assistant chief brewer's family was a farming family, he rented rice fields and took on the challenge of growing sake rice in-house.
Gradually, the area under cultivation increased, and in 2017, they established the agricultural corporation "Gokyo Nohten," which currently grows rice on five hectares of rice fields. By having employees grow the rice themselves, they have built a strong connection between sake brewing and agriculture, and as a result, all the rice they currently use is produced in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Soft water creates flavorful local sake and the techniques used

There are three wells on the brewery grounds. The soft underground water of the Nishiki River, pumped up from wells 10m, 30m, and 40m deep, produces the soft, fragrant sake quality that is unique to soft water brewing. It is said that fermentation progresses slowly and steadily when using soft water with a hardness of 1.6, which requires the cultivation of high-quality yeast and thorough temperature control during fermentation.
This is carried out by a highly skilled toji (master brewer) and his brewery staff. The toji (master brewer) inherited his techniques from an Otsu toji (master brewer) based in the former Otsu district of Yamaguchi prefecture, and the brewery staff are all originally from Yamaguchi prefecture, preserving the techniques.

The company also continues to brew sake that is in line with the local community, taking into consideration the compatibility of its sake with the local food culture, which is blessed with delicious ingredients such as seafood from the Seto Inland Sea, sweetfish from the Nishiki River, and lotus root from Iwakuni.
Sakai Sake Brewery's sake, nurtured by Iwakuni's mild climate and people, aims to become a bridge to the future, inheriting the dreams and wisdom of our ancestors, just like the Kintai Bridge.