Yanagita Shuzo
Shochu
About the Brewery
A family-run shochu brewery is the children’s playground, living space, and place of learning. I was likewise raised by the brewery in both name and reality. So when, as an adult, I suddenly came to work there, I felt no discomfort—rather I was surprised by the natural feeling of returning to a comfortable home.
But challenges in the traditional craft of shochu-making are not easy. At times, the weight of tradition can feel crushing, and relentless headwinds come at me. In such moments I close my eyes and recall:
Passing the baton of tradition means accumulating new creation.
Reading the times and continuing to make the shochu we believe in.
And never forgetting the lessons of predecessors who taught the joy of craftsmanship.
Imagining customers enjoying shochu where blessings of nature, pure water, and skill are in harmony, we quietly continue our challenge to ‘brew’—with 119 years of tradition in our hearts!
But challenges in the traditional craft of shochu-making are not easy. At times, the weight of tradition can feel crushing, and relentless headwinds come at me. In such moments I close my eyes and recall:
Passing the baton of tradition means accumulating new creation.
Reading the times and continuing to make the shochu we believe in.
And never forgetting the lessons of predecessors who taught the joy of craftsmanship.
Imagining customers enjoying shochu where blessings of nature, pure water, and skill are in harmony, we quietly continue our challenge to ‘brew’—with 119 years of tradition in our hearts!