New sake brewery in World Heritage village Shirakawa-go plans to grow Yamada Nishiki within the village

A brewery rising on the site of a primary school: “Shirakawa-mura no Kura”

Shirakawa village lies in the mountains of north-western Gifu Prefecture, in central Japan. It is home to Shirakawa-go, a settlement of gassho-zukuri houses with steep thatched roofs, which is registered as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. On the former site of Shirakawa Primary School in the village’s Hatogaya district, construction is under way on a brewery called “Shirakawa-mura no Kura” (the Shirakawa Village Brewery). It is being run by Watanabe Shuzoten, a brewery in neighbouring Hida city. Opening is planned for April 2027. On 13 July an information session was held at the construction site, attended by around 50 people, including local residents. At the session, candidate paddy fields for growing sake rice and the progress of construction were presented.

Yamada Nishiki, the “king of sake rice”, in a snowy village

At the session, the brewery asked residents to grow Yamada Nishiki in the village’s paddy fields. Yamada Nishiki is a leading variety of rice suited to sake brewing (shuzo kotekimai) and is known as the “king of sake rice”. It was developed in 1936 at an agricultural experiment station in Hyogo Prefecture, and Hyogo remains its main growing region. Sake made from this rice is said to be well balanced in flavour. On the other hand, in cold regions winter can arrive before the rice harvest, so faster-growing varieties are often chosen. How Yamada Nishiki will fare in snowy Shirakawa village is one of the main points of interest in this plan. A sake made from rice grown locally, right down to the raw ingredient, should be one that reflects its land.

What European readers may want to watch for

It will be some time before sake from the new brewery reaches overseas. Even so, there are ways to enjoy it from now. First, try a sake labelled “Yamada Nishiki” in a wine glass. It is a rice you will often see in sake shops in Europe. Reading it alongside grade designations such as “junmai” and “ginjo” makes it easier to see how the rice shows up in the taste. Then, once a sake made from Shirakawa village rice exists, compare it with a Hyogo Yamada Nishiki sake. Does the same variety taste different depending on where it was grown? You can enjoy it with the same outlook as wine terroir.