kikusui-sake.com

Introduction of the facility

　KIKUSUI Sake Culture Institute
has a very unique building. It
stands still in the woods which are
full of green, and has only one
floor on the ground. All the rest is
underground. As it is surrounded
with woods, it’s existence is often
not noticed, being watched separate
from the building. It’s our
small consideration, not to spoil
the scene.
　For building this institute we
avoided to use materials, which
pollute environment and injure
our health, but used ones which
can be traced the production
history, in order to keep our
health and the environment. As
the result of such thorough performance,
one of the rooms of this
institute, the “SETSUGORO
GURA” (Sake brewery) was certified
as the first Sake brewery in
Japan which has an organic space.

*Kikusui Sake Culture Institute is
surrounded with woods.

Mastery of the traditional skill and the challenge to new technique

Library

Exhibition corner

The SETSUGORO-GURA / Sake brewery

The SETSUGORO-GURA /
Koji (molded rice) room

KIKUSUI Sake Culture Institute has five functions.
The first one is “Research and Development”.
Sake Culture Information Reference Room is placed to promote the creative research and development. It is separated two parts; one is a
library, in which treatises on wide rage categories from human sciences to natural sciences are available and the other is a corner which performs collection of the data, research and exhibition in connection with alcohol- and food culture. In addition it has up-to-date experiment equipment. The full-time in-house staffs are progressing the research in cooperation with an external research organization using the equipment.
The second function is “Producing”. The SETSUGORO-GURA (Sake brewery) named after the founder makes the challengeable producing activities such as test brewing, producing “Dai-Ginjo” (the best quality sake brewed from the finest rice) possible.

The third function is “Personnel training for Toji” (Chief sake brewer). At SETSUGORO GURA any automatic controller does not used, therefore Sake is not brewed until a person thinks what he/she should do by him/herself, masters to produce Sake and works with his/her own hand. Our purpose is to raise a brewer who can brew Sake using the tool of brewing without any energies, such as electricity. It also means to pass the tradition of sake manufacture technology down to the coming generation.

The fourth is “Information dispatch” function. The information acquired by various research / development activities and distillation activities is arranged and classified, and it sends positively through website, books publication, etc.

What it does not come to forget at the end is the “Communication” function. KIKUSUI Sake Culture Institute has a hall called “Hiroshiki”. In accordance with an alcohol culture exhibition room, encounter of many people and communication will be born through various events held here.