Who will enjoy this brewery
- People in Fushimi, Kyoto, who want to tour a plant where both sake and beer are made, for free (a reservation is required)
- People who want to see the kappa, the character in Kizakura’s advertising, and exhibits on kappa legends handed down across Japan
- People who want to drink local craft beer or sake at a brewery-owned shop and choose souvenirs while walking around Fushimi (aged 20 or over)
About Kizakura
Kizakura Co., Ltd. (黄桜株式会社) is a sake-making company in Fushimi (伏見), in the southern part of Kyoto. The company name and the name of its main brand are the same, “Kizakura (黄桜)”, so in this article we write “the Kizakura brewery” for the company and “Kizakura sake” for the products.
The company was founded in 1925 and marked its 100th anniversary in October 2025. Besides sake, it has made local craft beer since 1995 and whisky since 2018.
There are two places that travelers can visit, and they are in different locations. One is “Fushimigura”, where you can tour the sake and local craft beer plant. The other is “Kizakura Kappa Country (キザクラカッパカントリー)”, which brings together a museum, a shop and a restaurant.
A yellow cherry blossom, and the kappa
The Kizakura brewery began as “松本治六郎商店”, a shop that the founder, 松本治六郎, opened in 新町 in Fushimi after becoming independent from his family’s sake-making business.
“Kizakura (黄桜)” is the name of a rare cherry tree that blooms with yellow double blossoms. It blooms a little later than the pink, single-blossomed Somei Yoshino (染井吉野). The founder loved this cherry and gave its name to the brand.
In 1955, the brewery chose the kappa (河童) as its character, and in 1957 it began advertising on television. The kappa is a creature whose legends remain in many parts of Japan.
In 1974, the brewery built the Tamba plant in Tamba-Sasayama (丹波篠山), Hyogo Prefecture, and greatly increased the amount it could make through “year-round brewing (四季醸造)”, making sake all year regardless of the season.
Sake and beer with the water of Fushimi
Fushimi is a sake-making area blessed with good water flowing underground. How the town and its water came to be is introduced in our article on Gekkeikan, also in Fushimi. The Kizakura brewery calls this Fushimi water “Fushimizu (伏水)”, and uses it for both sake and beer.
In 1995, the brewery started a local craft beer business. Its brands include “Kyoto Beer (京都麦酒)”. The beer is not over-filtered, so it keeps live yeast and a moderate cloudiness. In 2016, the brewery opened Fushimigura, where sake and beer are made in the same building.
Kizakura sake
There are many sakes bearing the name “Kizakura”, and the ingredients and the way the rice is polished differ from product to product. Please check the type on the bottle’s label. Here are three of them. Prices are the brewery’s suggested retail prices (tax not included) (checked on October 19, 2026).
- Kinjirushi Kizakura (金印黄桜) — Released in 1966, this is Kizakura’s representative sake. It is a “futsu-shu”, a sake that does not meet the conditions of a special designation, and its ingredients are rice, rice koji and brewer’s alcohol. Its aroma and taste are described as “an aroma with a soft, elegant sweetness, a soft, harmonious feel in the mouth, and a full umami” (from Kizakura’s product information; original: 「やわらかく上品な甘さを感じさせる香り、調和のとれた飲み口のやわらかさ、ふくらみのある旨み」). 720 ml 795 yen
- Karakuchi Ikkon (辛口一献) — A futsu-shu released in 1999. “Karakuchi (辛口)” in sake means that the sweetness is restrained; it does not mean salty or spicy (Amakuchi and karakuchi). It uses the brewery’s own yeast, “Kizakura karakuchi yeast (黄桜辛口酵母)”, and is made with “五段仕込”, a five-stage mashing method that boosts the fermentation of the sake yeast. Its ingredients are rice, rice koji, brewer’s alcohol and sugars (added sugar). 1800 ml 1,550 yen
- S Junmai Daiginjo (S 純米大吟醸) — A “junmai daiginjo”: made only from rice, rice koji and water, with more than half of the outer part of the rice polished away. The only rice used is “Yamada Nishiki (山田錦)”, and it is fermented for a long time at a low temperature of 10°C. The product description calls it “a special sake to enjoy slowly on Saturday and Sunday” (from Kizakura’s product information; original: 「土日にゆっくり楽しむ特別な日本酒」). 500 ml 1,000 yen
Visiting the brewery
Fushimigura (tour of the sake and local craft beer plant, free, reservation required)
At Fushimigura, you can tour the sake and local craft beer plant. Admission is free, but a reservation is required even if you are only touring (checked on October 19, 2026). There are no attendants or guides; you look around on your own. The visit takes about 30 minutes.
Inside the building there is a guidance theater on the 2nd floor. At “日本酒 吟醸蔵” (the sake brewing floor) on the 5th floor, videos introduce the processes of making koji and of mashing, and the “koji-muro (麹室)”, the room where koji is made, is also open to view. On the 4th floor you can see the equipment that fills cans with local craft beer and packs them into boxes, on the 3rd floor panels on the history of Kizakura, and on the 2nd floor the brewing kettles and fermentation tanks for the local craft beer.
A restaurant and a souvenir shop that you can use after the tour are on site. The restaurant requires a reservation and is closed on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. Drinks can be ordered only by people who are having a meal. There is no information about free tastings.
| Fushimigura (checked on October 19, 2026) | |
|---|---|
| Address | 京都府京都市伏見区横大路下三栖梶原町53 Open in Google Maps |
| Opening hours | 10:00–16:00 |
| Closed | The year-end and New Year holidays. There are also temporary closing days (on some days, part of the facility is not operating) |
| Fee | Free |
| Reservation | Required. Phone 075-644-4488 (10:00–16:00) |
| Time needed | About 30 minutes. No guide |
| English | There is an English information page |
| Parking | Near the facility (京都市伏見区横大路下三栖南郷5). Large buses are also accepted |
Getting there: About 20 minutes on foot from Chushojima Station (中書島駅) on the Keihan Main Line.
Kizakura Kappa Country (museum, shop and restaurant)
This is a brewery-owned facility in 塩屋町, Fushimi Ward, and it has the following three parts.
- Kappa Gallery (黄桜記念館, Kizakura’s museum): A museum that uses models, dioramas and videos to introduce the processes and tools of sake brewing in the old days. You can also see materials on kappa legends from various regions, and old Kizakura television advertisements featuring the kappa. In the adjoining gallery, original kappa drawings by 清水崑 and 小島功 are on display. Admission is free
- Kappa Shop (黄桜商店, Kizakura’s shop): A shop selling Kizakura sake and local craft beer (including some that can only be bought here), food and goods. There is also “sale by the glass (ショット販売)”, where you can buy sake one glass at a time
- 黄桜酒場 (Kizakura’s restaurant): A restaurant where you can enjoy local craft beer and sake with Kyoto cuisine (京料理), in a dining room that keeps traces of the old sake brewery. There is an English menu
| Kizakura Kappa Country (checked on October 19, 2026) | |
|---|---|
| Address | 〒612-8046 京都府京都市伏見区塩屋町228 Open in Google Maps |
| Kappa Gallery (黄桜記念館) | 10:00–16:00, free admission |
| Kappa Shop (黄桜商店) | 10:00–20:00 |
| 黄桜酒場 | Lunch 11:30–14:30 (from 11:00 on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays), dinner 17:00–21:30 |
| Closed | Tuesdays (Wednesday if Tuesday is a public holiday), December 31 and January 1. In some weeks the regular closing day is moved to another day |
| Phone | 075-611-9919 |
| Parking | 20 spaces |
Getting there: About 7 minutes on foot from Chushojima Station or Fushimi-Momoyama Station (伏見桃山駅) on the Keihan Main Line, and about 8 minutes on foot from Momoyama-goryomae Station (桃山御陵前駅) on the Kintetsu Kyoto Line. Please check train times on Kintetsu’s Momoyama-goryomae Station information and timetable page or similar. Please also check the times for your return trip.
If you drink local craft beer or sake, please do not drive. In Japan, drunk driving is prohibited by law.
Opening days and tour arrangements may change. Please check the brewery’s official information before visiting.
Where to buy Kizakura’s sake
Brewery-owned shops: The Kappa Shop at Kizakura Kappa Country (in the table above) and the souvenir shop at Fushimigura. In Kawaramachi (河原町), Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, there is also “Shofu-rou (祥風楼)”, a Kyoto-cuisine restaurant run by the brewery, where you can drink limited sake sent from the brewery (about 2 minutes on foot from Kyoto-kawaramachi Station on the Hankyu Kyoto Line. Closed on Mondays, with occasional temporary closures. Checked on October 19, 2026).
Official online shop: There is the “Kizakura official online shop”. It does not ship overseas. Purchases are limited to people aged 20 or over (checked on October 19, 2026).
If you are taking sake home abroad: Bottles over 100 ml cannot go in your carry-on bag before security screening. Put them in your checked baggage, or buy them at a duty-free shop after security screening. Please check in advance what applies if you have a connecting flight, and the import limits of the country you are arriving in. → Travel tips
Other breweries in Kyoto Prefecture are gathered on our Kyoto Prefecture page.
Brewery facts
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Company | 黄桜株式会社 (Kizakura Co., Ltd.) |
| Founded | October 1925 (the 14th year of the Taisho era). Incorporated as a stock company in December 1951 |
| Representatives | Chairman and Representative Director 松本真治 / President and Representative Director 松本雄司 |
| Head office (business office) | 〒612-8242 京都府京都市伏見区横大路下三栖梶原町53 (same address as Fushimigura) Open in Google Maps |
| Head office address | 〒612-8046 京都府京都市伏見区塩屋町223 Open in Google Maps |
| Phone | 075-611-4101 (main) |
| Main brand | Kizakura (黄桜) |
| Plants | 三栖 (Kyoto Prefecture), Tamba (丹波篠山市, Hyogo Prefecture) |
| Official website | https://kizakura.co.jp/ (English: https://kizakura-brewery.com/ ) |
| Visitor facilities | Fushimigura (free, reservation required, no guide), Kappa Gallery (黄桜記念館, free) |
| Brewery-owned shops | Kappa Shop (黄桜商店), the souvenir shop at Fushimigura, 黄桜酒場, Shofu-rou / official online shop (no overseas shipping) |
| English support | An English official website and an English page for Fushimigura are available. 黄桜酒場 has an English menu |