How Shigemasu is made — a sake brewery's year, and the wooden koji room at its heart

A sake brewery lives by a yearly rhythm. At Takahashi Shoten — the brewery behind Shigemasu, working in Yame, Fukuoka since 1717 — brewing starts in late September and runs through April.

This article maps that year and the craft inside it. Founded when Takahashi Rokurouemon opened a sake shop in Yame, the brewery has passed down through the generations to its 19th head, Nakagawa Takuya.

The backbone — everything in-house, from rice polishing to finishing

Shigemasu's process runs from rice selection to koji making, yeast starter, mash, and pressing — with everything from rice polishing to the finished bottle done in-house.

The step the brewery treats as most important is koji making, done in a wooden koji room. During it, two brewery workers sleep on site to stay beside the koji. The team is led by production head Suzuki and toji (master brewer) Tsutsumi working in tandem, with fourteen people across a seven-day cycle — a scale where every batch stays within reach of human hands and eyes.

The rice: Gin no Sato grown in Yame itself, Yamada Nishiki from Itoshima, and Yume Ikkon at the center, with some Omachi as well.

The brewery's year — from first steaming to koshiki-daoshi

The year begins to move with the first steaming in September. When the new sake arrives in November, the brewery holds its first-press ceremony. In the new year comes a brewing blessing at the local Fukushima Hachimangu shrine. And with April's koshiki-daoshi — laying down the rice-steaming vessel — the season's brewing comes to its close.

These milestones are not mere routine: they are how the whole brewery marks and shares the turning points of its craft.

Tradition, and what comes next

While guarding its handmade methods, the brewery is also brewing for the era ahead: it holds organic JAS certification and, as a certified One Health operator, works with wind power and electric vehicles.

Recognition has come from home and abroad. Gold prizes at the Annual Japan Sake Awards (brewing years Heisei 15, 18, and 21) with further honors in recent years; gold at the Fukuoka Regional Taxation Bureau's sake competition, including "Shigemasu Daiginjo Shizuku-shibori" in 2025. Overseas, the daiginjo "Hakoirimusume" took Great Gold at CATAD'OR and Platinum in Milan, "Gin no Sato Junmai Ginjo" won gold at France's Kura Master, and "Shigemasu Daiginjo Sakekasu Shochu" earned Gold at IWSC 2026. From everyday bottles to award winners — breadth is the point.

Ask the brewery about the craft, directly

The koji room, this year's brewing, which label comes from which part of the process — some things are faster to ask than to read.

This brewery has an online consultation window approved by the owner himself. Ask about the craft, how to choose a Shigemasu, or Yame itself, before your trip. It clearly discloses that an AI is answering, the content is based on the owner's first-hand information, and it is free.