Masuda Tokubee Shoten (増田徳兵衞商店)
Tsukinokatsura is a sake brewery in Fushimi, Kyoto, founded in 1675. It brews only in the deep winter season and works by hand.
- Makes
- Sake
- Japan Sake Awards
- 2 prizes
Where to buy
What kind of brewery is it?
Founded in 1675 (Enpo 3), the brewery stood on the Toba Sakumichi road running south from the Rashomon gate of the old capital, with its sake shop and main house on the site. It traded under two shop names, one for sake and one for rice. In the late Edo period it also served as a lodging house for court nobles travelling west from Kyoto. The name Tsukinokatsura comes from a poem by a court noble with whom the family had ties. The Toba-Fushimi battles of 1868 damaged the brewery, and it was rebuilt on its present site. From the Meiji era the family had contacts with writers and artists, and sake vessels, old documents and ukiyo-e prints from those exchanges remain in the storehouse. In 1964 the 13th generation developed sparkling nigori sake, and the following year began ageing a junmai daiginjo koshu in porcelain jars. In recent years the brewery has revived and grown local sake rice and developed low-alcohol sake.
What makes it distinct
- Also
- Brewing has been done only in the deep winter season, past and present. The brewery insists on handmade production.
- Ingredients
- The brewery has worked to revive and grow local sake rice.
- Style
- In 1965 the brewery began storing a junmai daiginjo koshu aged in porcelain jars.
Compiled with AI from public pages, mainly the brewery’s own site (not yet checked by the brewery)Sources: tsukinokatsura.co.jp
Japan Sake Awards
A prize-winner in 2 of the 9 contests from brewing year 2017 to 2025.
Source: the prize lists of the Japan Sake Awards (National Research Institute of Brewing and Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association).