Sake Pilgrimage · 酒蔵巡礼JA
Hida Province · 飛騨国
奉醸 飛騨国古川 蓬莱 飛騨山水 創業 明治三年 — Founded 1870 · Watanabe Shuzoten — 飛騨古川 山水仕込み 令和八年皐月吉日 渡辺 古川
蓬 莱

Hourai

— The Mountain Sake of Hida-Furukawa —
Audio Guide
Hourai — One Minute of Stillness
Bold mountain sake from a snow-buried town
0:00−:−−
Drink warm in winter. Hida valleys teach this.
Soul of the Kura
Hida is mountains.
Steep cedar valleys, salt-cured carp ponds,
winter that locks the roads for months.

Watanabe Shuzo has brewed in Hida-Furukawa
for 150 years —
once for the local merchants of the Hida craftsmen,
now for travellers who come to walk the white-walled town
and stay for the brewery's January festival.
Characteristics
Founded 1870 by the Watanabe family in Hida-Furukawa, northern Gifu.
Brewed with mountain water from the Hida range,
at 500m altitude in heavy snow country.
Bold, mineral, structurally robust —
the brewery hosts a beloved sake festival every January
that pours every Hourai bottling for travellers.
Reasons to Visit
Tasting Etiquette
  1. Try warm if winter, cool if summer.
    Hida sake follows the season strictly.
  2. Pair with grilled meat or miso, not raw fish.
    Mountain sake answers mountain food.
  3. Visit during festival days if possible.
    Furukawa-Matsuri (April) and the brewery's January event are the moments.
  4. Carry a bottle on the JR Hida Limited Express.
    Mountain rides reward warm sake.
  5. Buy a sugidama if visiting in winter.
    Cedar balls hung above kura announce the new sake.
Visit & Tasting
📍
Address
7-5 Mukamachi, Hida-shi, Gifu 509-4234
🚄
Access
JR Takayama Line → Hida-Furukawa Station → 5 min walk
🕐
Hours
9:30–17:00
📅
Closed
Year-end / New Year · brewery festival days only inside
🥢
Tasting
Paid tasting · shop
📞
Reservation
Festival tour January · otherwise reservation
🇬🇧
English
Limited
— Facilities —
🅿️ParkingYes
🚻RestroomYes
🏷️ShopYes
🎉FestivalJan
🗺 Directions 🌐 Official Site 📍 Open in Maps 📜 All Breweries
※ Hours, fees and contact details may change seasonally — please confirm on the brewery's official site before your visit.
Signature Labels
Complete the Sake Journey

Arrange your visit to Hourai — stay nearby, get there, taste with a guide, or take a bottle home.

🏨Stay Near the Kura

Booking.comGifu Hida Furukawa AgodaGifu Hida Furukawa

🚄Getting There

KlookJR Pass KlookGifu Hida Furukawa transfers

🍶Sake Tours & Tastings

ViatorGifu Hida Furukawa sake tours GetYourGuideSake tasting

🍵Sake Vessels & Bottles

AmazonHourai bottles AmazonTokkuri & ochoko

* Some links contain affiliate advertising. Commissions support this site's operation.

iv class="bottle-name">Hourai Junmai Daiginjo Iemoto Bizen 家伝 純米大吟醸
Junmai Daiginjo · Bizen Omachi rice
The flagship. Layered, mineral, mountain-pure. Multiple All-Japan New Sake gold years.
Hourai Hisago
Junmai Ginjo · Hida Homare local rice
Made entirely from Hida's homegrown sake rice. Soft, warming — built for mountain food.
Hourai Daikoshu Aged 30 Years
Aged junmai daiginjo · 30-year cellar
A bottle held in cold cellar three decades. Honeyed, deep, almost sherry — collector's territory.
Recommended Pairings
Pair With Pilgrimage
⛩
Ichinomiya of Hida Province

Hida-Ichinomiya Minashi Jinja

飛騨一宮 水無神社

The first-rank shrine of ancient Hida, near Takayama.
Enshrines Mizunashi-no-Kami — the kami of the mountain water
that flows through the Hida valleys, including the brewery's wells.
Visit in the morning; warm Hourai by an iron kettle in the afternoon.

Visit the Shrine →
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