Who will enjoy this brewery
- People who want to learn about “sake that goes well with food”
- People who want to buy freshly pressed new-season sake on the brewery open day
- People who prefer the taste of the rice itself to the showy aroma of daiginjo
- People looking for a sake brewery they can visit in half a day during a stay in Fukuoka
About Shiraito Shuzo
About 30 minutes’ drive west from central Fukuoka City brings you to Itoshima (糸島). It has the sea and mountains, with cafés and craft workshops scattered around, and it is an easy day trip from Fukuoka City.
In Itoshima, at the foot of the Sefuri (脊振) Mountains, is an area that grows the sake rice Yamada Nishiki (山田錦). Shiraito Shuzo (白糸酒造) stands here. It was founded in 1855. The brewery is located downstream from Shiraito Falls, a famous scenic spot, and it uses underground water from the Sefuri mountain range as its brewing water.
What makes this brewery special is the way it presses its sake. To make sake, the fermented moromi (the thick, fermenting mash) is pressed and separated into sake and sake lees (sake kasu). Shiraito Shuzo continues to use hanegi pressing (a lever press; 天秤搾り, tenbin shibori), a method that has almost disappeared today.
It uses one long wooden beam and stones taken from a river. Bags filled with moromi are stacked, a 1-ton weight is hung from the 8-meter hanegi beam, and the sake is pressed slowly using the principle of the lever. Compared with a modern pressing machine, it takes more time and more work. Even so, this brewery did not give up this method.
Tanaka Rokujugo, the sake
The main brand, Tanaka Rokujugo (田中六五), is a sake brewed from Yamada Nishiki grown in Itoshima, with a rice polishing ratio of 65%. The rice polishing ratio (seimai buai) shows how much of the rice remains, and 65% means that the outer 35% has been polished away. Because it is made only from rice, rice koji and water, it is called “junmai-shu”.
What is interesting is that this brewery does not sell its sake on “how far the rice was polished”. While the Dassai brewery chose the path of polishing down to 23%, Shiraito Shuzo chose 65%, a design different from the labeling standard for junmai ginjo (60% or less).
Tanaka Katsunori (田中克典), the eighth generation and the brewery’s toji (master brewer), describes the brewery’s sake like this (from the brewery profile by the liquor store IMADEYA).
Like plain white rice, it is always quietly there beside you and goes with any dish, but you feel lonely without it
白ご飯のようにいつもさりげなくそばにあって、どんな料理にも合う、でもないと寂しい
It is not a sake that takes the lead with a showy aroma. It is a sake that sits beside the meal and does not get in the way of the food. This idea of “the ultimate ordinary” is the other extreme of how sake can be enjoyed. If you drink Tanaka Rokujugo after a junmai daiginjo like Dassai — sake made only from rice, rice koji and water, with more than half of the outer part of the rice polished away — you will clearly see the range of what sake can be.
Pairing tip: Itoshima is known for its oyster huts (in winter), Itoshima pork and fresh vegetables. Tanaka Rokujugo goes naturally with this simple local food.
Visiting the brewery
The brewery open day “Hanegi Matsuri” — the day to visit
If you visit Shiraito Shuzo, go on one of its twice-yearly brewery open days (kura-biraki). They are held every year in February and April. The most recent one was held on April 11 and 12, 2026, open from 10:00 to 16:00, with free admission. The dates change from year to year. Please check the official announcement for the next dates.
On sale are Tanaka Rokujugo, the Shiraito series, amazake (a sweet rice drink) and other products. There is no brewery tour, no tasting, no eating area and no local products fair. It is a day when many local people come to buy freshly pressed new-season sake.
About brewery tours: Shiraito Shuzo does not accept brewery tours. It only handles sales (checked on September 4, 2026). What you can visit is the brewery shop. Please check with the brewery before visiting.
The brewery shop
| Opening hours | Monday to Saturday 9:00–17:00 (checked on September 30, 2026) |
| Closed days | Sundays and public holidays: closed on an irregular basis (the shop may be closed) |
| Products | The Shiraito series and others. Tanaka Rokujugo is not sold here (except during the brewery open day) |
Tanaka Rokujugo is a “limited-distribution product” that the brewery sells only through its authorized retailers. For where you can buy it, see “Where to buy Shiraito Shuzo’s sake”.
Getting there
Address: 〒819-1151 福岡県糸島市本1986 Phone: 092-322-2901
- Train + bus: From the South Exit of Chikuzen-Maebaru (筑前前原) Station on the JR Chikuhi Line → Showa Bus Shiraito Line, get off at “Hon-ku (本区)”, then about 1 minute on foot. There are few buses, and the routes are revised. Please check Showa Bus’s official timetable, including the last buses for both the outward and return trips.
- By car: About 5 minutes from Maebaru IC on the Nishi-Kyushu Expressway
- From central Fukuoka City (Hakata and Tenjin): The subway runs directly onto the Chikuhi Line, so you can reach Chikuzen-Maebaru Station without changing trains
Travel tip: Itoshima is a sightseeing area you can visit on a day trip from Fukuoka. Shiraito Shuzo + a seaside café + an oyster hut in winter is a natural combination, and it works as a trip even if sake is not your only purpose. Many travelers to Fukuoka come from Korea and Taiwan, and it is another strength that this is easy to fit into a short stay.
Where to buy Shiraito Shuzo’s sake
Where you can buy Shiraito Shuzo’s sake depends on the brand.
- Tanaka Rokujugo and “65|13” are brands that the brewery treats as “limited-distribution products”. They are sold only at authorized retailers (tokuyakuten) approved by the brewery (liquor stores that trade directly with the brewery). They are not sold at the brewery shop, by phone or at the brewery’s online store. The exception is when they are sold at the brewery during the brewery open day.
- The Shiraito series is sold at the brewery shop and the official online store.
The brewery does not compensate for problems with products bought anywhere other than authorized retailers. Also, Tanaka Rokujugo and other products sold only through authorized retailers are not sold at room temperature, and the brewery asks that you keep them refrigerated after buying them (checked on September 30, 2026).
Authorized retailers that carry Tanaka Rokujugo
The brewery publishes its list of authorized retailers on its official online store (dated August 31, 2026) and its official website. We have chosen stores from the list that are easy to visit during your trip.
The store names and addresses are kept in Japanese so that you can show them to a taxi driver or paste them into a map app.
| Area | Store | Address |
|---|---|---|
| Hakata Station | 住吉酒販 デイトス店 | 福岡県福岡市博多区博多駅中央街1-1 博多駅デイトス1階 Open in Google Maps |
| Fukuoka City | 住吉酒販 本店 | 福岡県福岡市博多区住吉3-8-27 Open in Google Maps |
| Tokyo Station | はせがわ酒店 東京駅グランスタ店 | JR東日本 東京駅構内 地下1階 |
| Oshiage (Tokyo Skytree) | はせがわ酒店 東京スカイツリータウン・ソラマチ店 | 東京都墨田区押上1-1-2 東京ソラマチ1階 Open in Google Maps |
| Ginza | 横浜君嶋屋 銀座店 | 東京都中央区銀座1-2-1 紺屋ビル1階 Open in Google Maps |
| Ginza | IMADEYA GINZA | 東京都中央区銀座6-10-1 GINZA SIX 地下2階 Open in Google Maps |
| Ebisu | 横浜君嶋屋 恵比寿店 | 東京都渋谷区恵比寿南1-6-1 アトレ恵比寿 西館4階 Open in Google Maps |
| Osaka, Umeda | 山中酒の店 エキマルシェ大阪 | 大阪府大阪市北区梅田3-1-1 エキマルシェ大阪内 Open in Google Maps |
| Hiroshima | 大和屋酒舗 本店 | 広島県広島市中区胡町4-3 Open in Google Maps |
For other stores (Kyushu, Kansai, Chubu, Kanto, Tohoku, Niigata and Hokkaido), please check the list. The list also shows each store’s phone number. No stores in Kyoto Prefecture and no stores inside airports are listed.
The official online store and delivery to your hotel
The official online store sells the Shiraito series and other products, and ships within Japan by refrigerated delivery. As a rule, it does not accept orders for shipping abroad. You can choose a delivery date from the third day after the day you order, up to seven days after.
To have sake delivered to the hotel where you are staying, follow these steps (as of August 26, 2026).
- Before ordering, check for yourself with the hotel front desk that they can receive and hold the package for you.
- Make the recipient name exactly the same as the name on your hotel booking.
- In the notes field on the order screen, write your check-in date and the booking name (or booking number).
- Choose a delivery date that is your check-in day or a day during your stay.
- The brewery is not responsible if the package is returned or refused because the hotel had not agreed to accept it.
Before you buy
- Whether a store carries the sake, and what it has in stock, differ from store to store. Please check with the store before visiting.
- 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 | 有限会社白糸酒造 (Shiraito Shuzo Co., Ltd.) |
| Founded | 1855 (Ansei 2) |
| Address | 〒819-1151 福岡県糸島市本1986 Open in Google Maps |
| Phone | 092-322-2901 |
| Main brands | Tanaka Rokujugo (田中六五) / Shiraito (白糸) |
| Rice used | Yamada Nishiki grown in Itoshima |
| Brewing water | Underground water from the Sefuri mountain range |
| Pressing | Hanegi pressing (a lever press; 天秤搾り, tenbin shibori) |
| Official website | http://www.shiraito.com/ |
| Brewery tours | Not available |
| Brewery shop | Yes (Tanaka Rokujugo is not sold here) |
| English support | Not published |