The Accountant-Turned 14th-Generation Head Charting Tamanohikari's Global Strategy

The brewery that revived junmai sake after the war

Tamanohikari Shuzo was founded in 1673 in Wakayama Prefecture. The brewery was destroyed in an air raid during the Second World War, and after the war it moved to Fushimi, in the south of Kyoto. Fushimi, alongside Nada in Hyogo Prefecture, is one of Japan’s leading sake-producing districts, blessed with high-quality groundwater.

The 11th-generation head who decided on the move devoted his energy to reviving junmai sake. Junmai sake is sake made only from rice, rice koji and water, with no added brewer’s alcohol. It had ceased to be made during the war because rice was precious. Costs and taxes were heavy and it was hard to sell, but this challenge laid the foundation for the brewery’s acceptance in Kyoto. Even today, it makes only the higher grades, junmai daiginjo and junmai ginjo, which are brewed with the rice polished away to a greater degree.

The accountant-turned 14th-generation head and his “three strengths”

Yosuke Haba, the 14th-generation head, was born in 1979. He worked as a certified public accountant at an audit firm and a consulting company, and was also involved in running a food and beverage company. The brewery is the family business of his wife’s family, and he says he had not planned to take it over. The turning point was the Covid pandemic that began in 2020. Sales halved, and fearing that a history of 350 years might be cut short, he became president in 2023. He says the succession went smoothly, since the chairman, his father-in-law, had himself taken over his own wife’s family business.

Mr Haba names three strengths: the location, about 15 minutes by car from Kyoto Station; sake brewing done entirely by hand; and a traditional method that the brewery recovered earlier than others after the war. Around 60% of the domestic market is held by 20 large, highly mechanised companies. Against that backdrop, he believes the rarity of handmade sake will only increase.

Exports as “culture”, not as a “product”

The company exports to more than 30 countries and regions. Even so, Mr Haba says there is a limit to simply selling sake as a product. As with wine, he believes a brand becomes truly valuable only when the face and philosophy of the maker come across. Domestic consumption in Japan has fallen to a quarter over 50 years. In that environment, the company’s goal for ten years from now is not to chase volume but to raise the value of its sake as a drink that conveys Japan’s spiritual culture.

If you are choosing this brewery’s sake in Europe, look for “Junmai” and “Junmai Ginjo” on the label. Junmai sake, with no added alcohol, is said to let the flavour of the rice itself come through more easily. Serve it lightly chilled, check the aroma in a wine glass, and, as when choosing a wine, learn about the maker’s history and thinking before you taste; the impression of a single glass may change.