Who will enjoy this brewery
- People who want to stop by the brewery-owned store and buy sake while traveling in Fukui (Kokuryu Shuzo does not accept brewery tours)
- People looking for a place where they can enjoy a meal and a sake tasting while looking out over the Kuzuryu River (九頭竜川)
- People who want to try both sake meant to be drunk chilled and sake meant to be drunk warm
- People who want to get to know Fukui’s sake along with a visit to Eiheiji (永平寺)
About Kokuryu Shuzo
Kokuryu Shuzo (黒龍酒造) is a sake brewery in Matsuoka (松岡), in the town of Eiheiji (永平寺町), Yoshida District, Fukui Prefecture. It was founded in 1804. Its brands are “Kokuryu (黒龍)” and “Kuzuryu (九頭龍)”. The President and Representative Director is 水野直人, the eighth-generation brewery owner.
The brewery does not accept brewery tours (checked on September 30, 2026). The brewery gives as its reasons that it was not designed as a brewery for sightseeing, and that there are many dangerous places inside it.
Right next to the brewery is the brewery-owned store “Ishidaya Honten”, where you can buy sake. Along the Kuzuryu River is “ESHIKOTO”, a complex run by the brewery owner’s group, where you can taste and buy limited sake and have a meal.
The Kuzuryu River and snowmelt from 白山
Eiheiji is a town next to the city of Fukui. The Kuzuryu River, the largest river in Fukui Prefecture, flows through the middle of the town. The town is home to Eiheiji, a head temple (大本山).
Kokuryu Shuzo uses underground water from the Kuzuryu River as its brewing water. It is soft water: snowmelt from the 白山 mountains that has passed through the layers of the mountains. The brewery chooses its rice from sake rice (rice suited to making sake) from all over Japan, but it values rice from Fukui Prefecture, and it uses local rice while building ties with the farmers who grow sake rice.
The brand names also come from this river. “Kokuryu” is named after “黒龍川”, an old name for the Kuzuryu River. There is already a record of a brand called “Kokuryu” in a document from 1894. The first product of the sister brand “Kuzuryu” came out in 1959.
Sake to drink chilled, sake to drink warm
In 1970, Kokuryu Shuzo launched “COLD KOKURYU” and proposed the style of drinking sake chilled. In 1975, it launched “Kokuryu Daiginjo 龍 (黒龍 大吟醸 龍)”. It is a sake made by applying the aging of wine, and it is still made today. In 2004, it created “Kuzuryu Daiginjo (九頭龍 大吟醸)” as a daiginjo for kan (warming sake: drinking sake warmed).
Here are four different types from the brewery’s product list.
- Kokuryu Icchorai Jungin (黒龍 いっちょらい 純吟) — A “junmai ginjo” made only from rice, rice koji and water, with 40% or more of the outer part of the rice polished away, and fermented slowly at a low temperature. It uses Gohyakumangoku from Fukui Prefecture. “Icchorai” means “your very best formal clothes” in the Fukui dialect
- Kokuryu Daiginjo 龍 — A “daiginjo” with more than half of the outer part of the rice polished away and a small amount of brewer’s alcohol added
- Kuzuryu Daiginjo — Also a daiginjo, made on the assumption that it will be drunk warm. The brewery recommends warming it from lukewarm to slightly hot
- Kokuryu Ishidaya (黒龍 石田屋) — A “junmai daiginjo”, made only from rice, rice koji and water with more than half of the outer part of the rice polished away, that has been aged at a low temperature. It was named after the brewery’s trade name, “Ishidaya”. It is a limited product released around November
“Kokuryu” and “Kuzuryu” have many other products as well. The ingredients and brewing methods differ from product to product, so please check the label for the type. Limited products such as “Ishidaya” and “Shizuku (しずく)” are released only once or twice a year and are hard to get.
Labels made with Fukui’s handcrafts
In 1992, Kokuryu Shuzo changed its labels to a design inspired by old cloth. The labels use Echizen washi (越前和紙), a paper that originated in Echizen City (越前市), Fukui Prefecture, and Echizen-ori (越前織), a Fukui woven fabric. The lettering of the product names is written by a Fukui calligrapher.
Visiting the brewery
Brewery tours are not available
Kokuryu Shuzo does not accept brewery tours (checked on September 30, 2026). There is no sake brewery at “ESHIKOTO”, the facility run by the brewery owner, either. The places where you can experience the sake are the following two brewery-owned stores.
Ishidaya Honten (the brewery-owned store next to the brewery)
Ishidaya Honten is a store in the oldest main house among Kokuryu Shuzo’s buildings. This main house is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building). The store carries Kokuryu and Kuzuryu sake.
| Checked on September 30, 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Opening hours | 10:00–16:30 |
| Closed | Sundays (there are also irregular holidays) |
| Tasting | Not offered |
| Parking | 3 cars |
| Note | Because it is a small store, visits by tour bus are not accepted |
ESHIKOTO (a complex along the Kuzuryu River)
ESHIKOTO opened in June 2022 as a facility that conveys the culture of Fukui and the Hokuriku region, centered on sake. It faces the Kuzuryu River.
- Ishidaya ESHIKOTO store — A store where you can taste and buy the limited sake released under the ESHIKOTO name. 10:00–17:00, closed on Wednesdays. It is open to people aged 20 and over
- Restaurants and bakery — There is a soba and sake restaurant, “蕎麦 山や”; a restaurant and patisserie, “Apéro & Pâtisserie acoya”; and a bakery, “Hareya (ハレヤ)”. All are closed on Wednesdays. 蕎麦 山や and acoya recommend booking by phone
- Lodging — There is “歓宿縁 ESHIKOTO”, with 8 villas with open-air baths and a restaurant and bar
ESHIKOTO recommends its use for people aged 12 and over, and children aged 12 and under cannot use the restaurants. It checks that people who drink have someone to drive in their place or another way to get home. From December to February, there are days when 30 centimeters or more of snow piles up, and the facility may close when a heavy snow warning is issued.
Getting there
- Ishidaya Honten: 〒910-1133 福井県吉田郡永平寺町松岡春日1-38. A 6-minute walk from Matsuoka (松岡) Station on the Echizen Railway Katsuyama Eiheiji Line. It takes about 17 minutes from Fukui Station to Matsuoka Station (a guide for the daytime)
- ESHIKOTO: 〒910-1202 福井県吉田郡永平寺町下浄法寺第12号17番地. About 10 minutes by taxi from 永平寺口 Station on the Echizen Railway Katsuyama Eiheiji Line. For the trip back, the facility’s stores can call a taxi for you
The travel times are a guide as of September 2026. Please check train times with Echizen Railway. It is reassuring to check the last trains for both the outward and return trips.
Opening days and tour arrangements may change. Please check the brewery’s official information before visiting.
Where to buy Kokuryu Shuzo’s sake
Kokuryu Shuzo’s sake is sold only at authorized retailers (tokuyakuten: liquor stores that have a special agreement with the brewery) approved by the brewery. The brewery does not sell by mail order. The brewery-owned stores are the two mentioned above: Ishidaya Honten and the Ishidaya ESHIKOTO store.
Authorized retailers that carry Kokuryu and Kuzuryu
The brewery publishes a list of authorized retailers on its official website. It has 202 stores in Japan, with many in Tokyo and Fukui Prefecture. From the list, we have chosen stores that are easy to stop by during a trip (checked on September 30, 2026).
| Area | Store | Address |
|---|---|---|
| Fukui Station | 福人喜 ハピリン店 | 福井県福井市中央1-2-1 ハピリン2階 Open in Google Maps |
| Fukui Station | みずもと くるふ福井駅店 | 福井県福井市中央1丁目1-25 Open in Google Maps |
| Tsuruga Station | 奥井海生堂 敦賀駅前otta店 | 福井県敦賀市鉄輪町1-5-32 Open in Google Maps |
| Kanazawa | 高村酒舗 | 石川県金沢市大樋町4-12 Open in Google Maps |
| Tokyo Station | はせがわ酒店 GranSta東京店 | 東京都千代田区丸の内1-9-1 東京駅構内 地下1階 Open in Google Maps |
| Tokyo, Ginza | IMADEYA GINZA | 東京都中央区銀座6-10-1 GINZA SIX 地下2階 Open in Google Maps |
| Tokyo, Ginza | 銀座君嶋屋 | 東京都中央区銀座1-2-1 紺屋ビル1階 Open in Google Maps |
| Nagoya Station | リカーワールド21 シバタ | 愛知県名古屋市中村区名駅3-9-18 Open in Google Maps |
| Osaka | 酒のやまもと 大阪店 | 大阪府大阪市中央区島之内2-6-32 Open in Google Maps |
| Osaka | 酒蔵なかやま | 大阪府大阪市北区本庄東2-15-2 Open in Google Maps |
| Kyoto | タキモト | 京都府京都市下京区六条通高倉東入る |
For other stores and phone numbers, please see the list.
Before you buy
- Whether a store carries the sake, and its stock, differ from store to store. Limited and seasonal products may not come in, so please check with the store before visiting.
- For prices, the brewery asks you to contact the authorized retailers.
- 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
Brewery facts
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Brewery | 黒龍酒造株式会社 (Kokuryu Shuzo Co., Ltd.) |
| Founded | 1804 (the 1st year of the Bunka era) |
| Representative | President and Representative Director 水野直人 |
| Address | 〒910-1133 福井県吉田郡永平寺町松岡春日1-38 (head office) Open in Google Maps |
| Main brands | Kokuryu (黒龍) / Kuzuryu (九頭龍) |
| Brewing water | Underground water from the Kuzuryu River |
| Official website | https://www.kokuryu.co.jp/ |
| Brewery tours | Not available |
| Brewery shops | Ishidaya Honten (next to the brewery), Ishidaya ESHIKOTO store |
| List of stockists | Published on the official website (202 stores in Japan; checked on September 30, 2026) |
| English support | The official website has an English entrance (much of the text remains in Japanese). English support at the stores is not published |