Sudo Honke ─ The Oldest Sake Brewery of Japan

Soul of the Kura

Eight hundred and eighty years.
Fifty-five generations of one family.

The same spring rises beneath the same cedar grove —
sacred trees the family has refused to cut
for nine centuries.

No pasteurisation.
Estate-grown rice. Living water.
Sake as it was, before history began to record it.

Characteristics

The oldest continuously operating sake brewery in Japan.
Founded c.1141 — three centuries before Columbus,
six centuries before the United States.
The Sudō family has tended this single grove of ancient cedars,
and the spring beneath them, since the late Heian period.
Estate rice. Spring water. No charcoal filtration.
A living museum of pre-modern brewing.

Reasons to Visit

壱

Touch the oldest brewing tradition in Japan

Founded c.1141 — older than every shogunate, older than the samurai class itself.
弐

Walk the sacred cedar grove

Ancient trees the family has protected for 55 generations — the source of the spring water.
参

Taste sake without compromise

No pasteurisation. No added water. Estate rice only. A vanishing way of brewing.
四

Pair the visit with the Hitachi Ichinomiya

Tsukubasan Jinja sits 25 km south. Pilgrimage in the morning, tasting in the afternoon.
五

Drink a bottle that exists almost nowhere

Sudō Honke ships in tiny quantities. A bottle taken home from here is its own souvenir.

Tasting Etiquette

Approach the kura quietly.
A working brewery is not a bar — voices stay low.
Ask before photographing the brewing floor.
Some kura forbid flash near open fermentation tanks.
Hold the cup with both hands when receiving sake.
A small gesture; one the brewer will notice.
Smell first. Sip second. Speak third.
The aroma fades fastest — give it the first beat.
Buy a bottle if you tasted with intent.
Small kura survive on travellers who carry their work home.

Visit & Tasting

📍

Address

2125 Obara, Kasama-shi, Ibaraki 309-1701

🚄

Access

JR Joban Line → Tomobe Station → 15 min taxi

🕐

Hours

By appointment only

📅

Closed

Always (visits by request)

🥢

Tasting

Reservation tasting only

📞

Reservation

Required (email)

🇬🇧

English

Limited

— Facilities —

🅿️ParkingYes

🚻RestroomYes

🏷️ShopYes

📅ReservationRequired

🗺 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

Kameizumi Junmai Daiginjo 亀齢純米大吟醸

Junmai Daiginjo · estate rice · 35% polish

The flag

Complete the Sake Journey

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

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

ship. Pristine, faintly floral, with a long mineral finish. The clearest expression of the family's spring water.

Kameizumi Junmai Ginjo Yamada 山田錦

Junmai Ginjo · Yamada-Nishiki · 50% polish

A more weighted, savoury sister bottle. Best with grilled river fish or aged tofu.

Kameizumi Genshu Nama 原酒生

Unpasteurised · undiluted

Intense, alive, almost dangerously drinkable. Available only to brewery visitors.

Pair With Pilgrimage

⛩

Ichinomiya of Hitachi Province

Tsukubasan Jinja

筑波山神社

The first-rank shrine of the ancient Hitachi province,
enshrining Izanagi and Izanami atop the twin peaks of Mt. Tsukuba.
Visit in the morning, taste at Sudō Honke in the afternoon —
the same water table feeds both the spring and the sake.

Visit the Shrine →

Sudo Honke

🏨Stay Near the Kura

🚄Getting There

🍶Sake Tours & Tastings

🍵Sake Vessels & Bottles

Tsukubasan Jinja