Ibaraki's First Female Toji and a Former Police Officer Pass On the Star-Named Sake "Stella"

In Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, north-east of Tokyo, Inaba Shuzo has been brewing sake at the foot of Mount Tsukuba since the late Edo period. The brewery has two unusual stories to tell. First, its head is the first woman in Ibaraki to become a toji (the person in charge of sake-making on the brewery floor). Second, her successor was a Tokyo police officer only a few years ago. In June 2026, the local media outlet Ibanavi interviewed the two of them.

“Stella”, Born from Defying the “No Women” Rule

Nobuko Inaba (born 1965), the sixth-generation kuramoto-toji (owner and head brewer), originally worked at a local department store. At that time her family’s brewery was facing closure, as sales had fallen with the decline in sake drinking and its toji was also retiring. Nobuko decided to take over, but breweries of the day still held to an old custom of keeping women away from the brewing floor, and she is said to have met not only prejudice from those around her but also opposition from her own parents. Each harsh word fuelled her defiance, and with her husband’s encouragement she left the department store. She learned brewing from scratch at the Ibaraki Prefectural Industrial Innovation Center, a prefectural research institution, and in 2000 released a new brand she had brewed herself, “Stella” (Latin for “star”).

“Stella” is a junmai daiginjo made with water from Mount Tsukuba. Junmai daiginjo is one of the premium grades of sake: the rice is polished to half its size or less, and no brewing alcohol is added. It is pressed by fukuro-tsuri, a labour-intensive method in which the moromi (fermenting mash) is placed in cloth bags and hung up, and only the drops that fall under their own weight are collected. It is known for its fruity aroma and clean, smooth palate.

To 15 Countries, and from Sake Lees to Shochu

“Stella” has won repeated awards at competitions in Japan and abroad, and is now drunk in 15 countries around the world. It was the first sake to be featured in a famous Italian wine magazine, and the brewery has signed an exclusive contract with a renowned New York restaurant. In 2023 it opened the “Tsukubasan Distillery” on its grounds. There it distils the sake lees left over after pressing to make premium shochu (a Japanese distilled spirit), and returns the residue from distillation to the paddies of contracted farmers as fertiliser. This has created a single cycle, from the rice used as raw material back to the fields.

From Riot Police to Brewery: Kentaro Inaba

Kentaro Inaba (born 1997), husband of Nobuko’s second daughter, switched from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police riot police and joined the brewery in 2023. Having captained a strong rugby team, he has made “One for all, All for one” the motto of the brewing team. Since 2025 he has served as head of production. In the first year he was put in charge of the entire process, the brewery won an award at the National New Sake Appraisal, Japan’s largest sake competition. Going forward, he plans to refine the flagship brands “Minanogawa” and “Stella”, and is also thinking of eventually launching a brand of his own.

If you are looking for it in Europe, watch for “Stella” or “Minanogawa” on the label. The aroma of fukuro-tsuri drip sake and of namagenshu (unfiltered, undiluted, unpasteurised sake) is delicate, so it is said to be best stored in the refrigerator and drunk chilled from a wine glass to appreciate its character. Only seven tanks of “Stella” namazake are brewed each year, as production is limited. It will be interesting to see how the flavour of this brewery, now passing from the current head’s generation to the next, develops.