Fukushima’s Niida Honke: 300 Years of Brewing Sake in Harmony with Nature

The traditional facade of the Niida Honke office and shop reflects the brewery’s long history.

Niida Yasuhiko, eighteenth-generation head of the company and master brewer, gives a tour of the brewery.

Niida Honke’s flagship brand, Shizenshu. From left to right: Junmai Genshu, the award-winning Junmai Ginjō, and Kan’atsurae.

Niida Honke makes its sake using only fresh, natural water from mountain springs and a well located on the brewery’s property. Visitors can drink the fresh water used for sake making, referred to as shikomi-mizu, from a constantly replenished stone vat in front of the brewery’s sake warehouse.

The fermentation warehouse constructed Niida’s father Yasumitsu.

The Odayaka produced today is a natural sake made from organically grown sake rice. The brand has come to be as popular as the brewery’s Shizenshu label.

Hyakunen Kijōshu, a label launched to commemorate Niida Honke’s 300th anniversary, is fermented with sake from the preceding year.

Volunteers in a harvesting event at a Niida Honke rice field. (Courtesy Niida Honke)

The Niidas admit that until the disaster, they never expected to see themselves at the forefront of the sake business.

Participants pose with the company president and his wife at Niida Honke’s annual “thank you festival.” (Courtesy Niida Honke)

Niida Honke’s line of fermented food products include kōji chocolates (bottom right), which are available at Natural Lawson outlets throughout Japan.

With the number of sake barrel craftsmen in Japan dwindling, Niida Honke has taken to building its own barrels. (Courtesy Niida Honke)

Visitors can sample the various sake Niida Honke brews at the company’s shop.