Kayashima Shuzo

Kayashima Shuzo is a historic brewery on the Kunisaki Peninsula, founded in 1873 by Arakichi Kayashima. In the 1890s, the second-generation owner Yonezaburo Kayashima named their sake 'Nishi no Seki' with the aspiration to create the most distinguished sake in western Japan.
The brewery boasts exceptional brewing expertise from its early days, winning first prize at the inaugural National Sake Competition in 1907.
For brewing water, they draw soft water (hardness of 4) from three wells sourcing underground streams from Mount Futago and Mount Monju. Their rice is carefully selected from Hinohikari (Oita Prefecture), Hattannishiki (Hiroshima Prefecture), and Yamada Nishiki (Hyogo Prefecture).
Since its founding, the brewery has championed 'quality first,' pursuing the ideal of 'delicious sake' where the five tastes — sweet, sour, dry, bitter, and astringent — are perfectly balanced, unwavering against passing trends. After a century in business, they adopted the catchphrase 'A Century of Consistent Quality' and strive for progressive succession of traditional handcrafted methods.
With an annual production of approximately 6,000 koku (about 1,080 kiloliters), the brewery was a pioneer in releasing ginjo sake to the market as 'Hizo-shu' in 1963, when commercial ginjo sake was still uncommon.
Fourteen structures including chimneys built from the Meiji to early Showa periods were registered as national tangible cultural properties in 1998, attesting to the brewery's significant historical value.