A brewery that has been making sake since the Meiji Era
Founded in 1872, the Takeuchi Sake Brewery is located in Shiga Prefecture’s Konan-shi. They are best known for their brand Ka-no-Izumi.
A young chief brewer who has taken on the spirit of the legendary maestro chief brewer Noguchi
Gekka-no-Okami is made by Toji (head brewer) Takuya Nishizawa, who studied the craft under Naohiko Noguchi, a legend of the modern sake world.
Following this experience, Nishizawa worked at a number of breweries before starting work at the Takeuchi Sake Brewery, located close to his hometown, for the 2022 brewing season.
Carrying on the passion and skills of his mentor, Nishizawa says that his goal today is to make sake that appeals to a wide range of different people. The expectations upon him continue to grow.
Gekka-no-Okami
The bottle label of Gekka-no-Okami, which displays a wolf in front of a moonlit landscape, pays homage to the natural landscape of Ishibe as well as being a reflection of the sake’s flavour. Under the bright, nostalgic moonlight, a wolf waits quietly – this sake promises an equally impactful drinking experience, powerful and poised, captivating and mysterious.
Ishibe, a historic area of sake production
Ishibe is a district of Konan-shi in Shiga Prefecture. It was here that the first inn town on the old Tokaido road from Kyoto to Tokyo was located.
The sake from this town was beloved by travelers, and benefited from two factors that made it particularly suited for sake production: the cold wind known as the Hioi Oroshi and underground water flowing from the Suzuka Mountains. The Takeuchi Sake Brewery is one long-established brewery whose origins date back to that time.
Sake made with Hyogo-ken Yoshikawa Special A Class Plot Yamada Nishiki
The most famous sake rice is Yamada Nishiki, nicknamed “the king of sake rice.”
Sake made from this rice receives consistently high praise at awards ceremonies.
Research into the connection between Yamada Nishiki and the land it is grown on is ongoing, and plots of land designated as producing particularly high-quality Yamada Nishiki can now use the categorization “Special A Class Plot”.
Gekka-no-Okami is made exclusively from Yamada Nishiki sourced from plots awarded that special categorization, located in Yoshikawa in Hyogo Prefecture.
