A History of Today's Sake Brewers
Of Japan's thousands of sake breweries past and present, 1,039 surviving breweries have founding records — spanning 882 years of brewing tradition. Many more have closed over the centuries.
Oldest Brewery
1141
Sudo Honke, Ibaraki
Peak Era
406
Founded 1850–1899
With Founding Year
1,039
Of 1,733 breweries
Years of History
882
From 1141 to present
When Were Japan's Breweries Founded?
Brewery founding counts by era, coloured by region. The Meiji Restoration (1868) triggered a wave of new breweries.
Do Older Breweries Taste Different?
Average flavour profiles by founding era, compared against the national median (dashed line). Older breweries tend toward richer, more robust profiles.
1700年以前
Pre-1700 · 69 breweries
All-Japan median
Floral-0%Rich-0%Robust+2%Gentle+1%Dry+2%Light-1%
1700年代
1700s · 100 breweries
All-Japan median
Floral-2%Rich-0%Robust+3%Gentle+1%Dry+2%Light-2%
1800年代
1800s · 366 breweries
All-Japan median
Floral-1%Rich-0%Robust+2%Gentle+1%Dry+0%Light-1%
1900年以降
1900+ · 170 breweries
All-Japan median
Floral+0%Rich+0%Robust+1%Gentle+0%Dry+1%Light-0%
Japan's 20 Oldest Breweries
The oldest surviving sake breweries in Japan, with their flagship brands and flavour profiles.
Regional Founding Patterns
How brewery founding patterns shifted across Japan's eight regions over the centuries.
| Era | Hokkaido | Tohoku | Kanto | Chubu | Kinki | Chugoku | Shikoku | Kyushu | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1600年以前 Pre-1600 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13 |
| 1600年代 1600s | 0 | 12 | 7 | 26 | 16 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 77 |
| 1700年代 1700s | 0 | 28 | 13 | 38 | 28 | 9 | 8 | 16 | 140 |
| 1800〜1849年 1800–1849 | 0 | 13 | 26 | 53 | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 136 |
| 1850〜1899年（幕末〜明治） 1850–1899 | 7 | 47 | 53 | 120 | 66 | 47 | 30 | 35 | 406 |
| 1900〜1949年 1900–1949 | 3 | 35 | 14 | 53 | 24 | 41 | 18 | 21 | 212 |
| 1950〜1999年 1950–1999 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 43 |
| 2000年以降 2000+ | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 12 |