Brewing Museum Toko Brewery

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Brewing Museum Toko Brewery

Tohoku's largest sake brewing museum.

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Kojima Sohonten, the legendary brewery, is a long-established company that has been in business since the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600). It is one of the few sake breweries that have been in business since before the Edo period and developed as the official sake brewing family of the Yonezawa domain.The brewery still produces sake that makes the most of the Yonezawa climate.

The Sake Brewer's Museum is a renovated warehouse building that was once used for sake brewing. Inside the spacious museum, visitors can learn about the traditional sake brewing process through exhibits and audio guidance. Many valuable exhibits include Tokkuri (sake bottle) and other sake vessels and tools used in sake brewing. Shikomigura (warehouse in preparation for brewing ), with its rows of wooden vats over the height of an adult, was the location for a cosmetics commercial produced by Tom Hooper.

The attached sake store sells and offers Toko's limited-edition sake tastings from the brewery. The shop also sells cosmetics containing its own originally developed sake lees extract.

Highlights

  • The brewery's museum is a massive, stately warehouse structure.
  • The brewery's wooden vats, each over 1.8 meters high, are a spectacular sight.
  • Visitors can enjoy sake tastings at the directly-managed sake store.

Photos

  • Stately warehouse structure

    Stately warehouse structure

  • A brewing warehouse lined with wooden vats from the Meiji era

    A brewing warehouse lined with wooden vats from the Meiji era

  • You can also view the old-fashioned sitting room from the rest area.

    You can also view the old-fashioned sitting room from the rest area.

  • The east garden, where a peaceful time flows

    The east garden, where a peaceful time flows

  • If you like any sake after tasting it, you can buy it as a souvenir.

    If you like any sake after tasting it, you can buy it as a souvenir.

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Details

Name in Japanese
酒造資料館 東光の酒蔵
Postal Code
992-0031
Address
2-3-22 Omachi, Yonezawa City, Yamagata
Telephone
0238-21-6601
Holiday
December 31st, January 1st
*Closed every Tuesday during winter (January and February).
Hours
Weekdays: 9:30am-4:00pm
Weekends and holidays: 9:00am-4:30pm
*Check the official website for more details.
Admission
Adults 350 yen, Junior and senior high school students 250 yen, Elementary school students 150 yen
Directions
1) Take a city bus from JR Yonezawa Station and get off at Omachi 1-chome bus stop.
2) 5 minutes by cab from JR Yonezawa Station
3) 15 min. by car from Yonezawa-Hachimanpara IC on Tohoku Chuo Expressway
Credit Cards
Accepted
Website
Official Website (English)