Who will enjoy this brewery
- People who have come as far as Takayama (高山) and want to walk through one more old townscape while they are in the area
- People who want to see inside the buildings where sake is made on a weekday (the tour is paid and requires booking)
- People who want to taste sake made from Hida rice at the brewery shop before choosing
- People traveling in Hida to coincide with the 古川祭 festival in April
About Watanabe Shuzoten
Watanabe Shuzoten (渡辺酒造店) is a sake brewery in Furukawa (古川町), Hida (飛騨市), Gifu Prefecture. Its brand is “Hourai (蓬莱)”. The family began making sake in 1870.
Brewery tours are available. The tour is paid, runs on weekdays only, and requires booking (checked on September 30, 2026. See “Visiting the brewery” for the conditions).
You can use the brewery shop without joining a tour. The brewery buildings are a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (a historic building registered by the national government).
Hourai was among the prize-winning sakes at the Zenkoku Shinshu Kanpyokai (National New Sake Competition) for the Reiwa 7 brewing year (organized by the National Research Institute of Brewing and the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association; announced on May 20, 2026).
A basin town surrounded by the Northern Alps
Furukawa in Hida is at the northern tip of Gifu Prefecture. It is a town in the Furukawa Basin, surrounded by the mountains of the Northern Alps, which rise to more than 3,000 meters above sea level. The town is also called “Hida-Furukawa (飛騨古川)”.
The street where the brewery stands is lined with old merchant houses with latticed windows. Along the Setogawa (瀬戸川), which flows through the town, there is a row of earthen storehouses with white walls and black lower walls. Colorful carp swim in the Setogawa from April to November. From late November to early April, the carp are moved to another pond to spend the winter.
Every year on April 19 and 20, the 古川祭 festival of the 気多若宮神社 shrine is held. The procession of the festival floats (yatai), and the “起し太鼓”, in which a tower carrying a large drum parades through the town on the night of the 19th, are designated as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan and are also inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
Sake started by a raw-silk merchant
The 渡邉 family started a business on this land in 1732 under the shop name “荒城屋”. Later the family began producing raw silk and selling it to Kyoto.
The person who began making sake was Kyuemon (久右衛門), the fifth generation. He could not forget the taste of the sake he drank when he went to Kyoto on raw-silk business, and in 1870 he set up a sake brewery in Furukawa. The brand name “Hourai” was chosen from a passage of the noh chant “鶴亀”, which was sung at banquets. Hourai is the name of an ideal land of eternal youth and long life, where immortals are said to live.
At the front of the brewery, a sugidama (杉玉), a ball of cedar leaves bundled into a round shape, hangs under a small roof. The sugidama is the signboard of a sake brewery. At Watanabe Shuzoten it is replaced with a new one every year on November 1 (or the next day if that is a holiday), the day the first new sake of the year is pressed. The roof over the sugidama burned down together with the main house in the great fire of Furukawa in 1904, and was restored 92 years later, in 1996.
Today the ninth generation, 渡邉久憲, runs the brewery, and makes sake together with the toji (master brewer: the person in charge of sake making), 北場広治. The brewery states that it uses old wooden tools and values the aromas and textures felt by hand.
Hourai made with Hida rice
The rice that Watanabe Shuzoten uses most as a raw material is “Hida Homare (飛騨ほまれ)”, a sake rice (rice suited to making sake) from Gifu Prefecture. It also uses Yamada Nishiki (山田錦) from Hyogo and Okayama Prefectures, Omachi (雄町) from Okayama Prefecture, and 吟風 from Hokkaido.
Here are two standard products made with Hida Homare.
- 蓬莱 純米酒 奥伝寒造り (Hourai junmai-shu) — A “junmai-shu”, sake made only from rice, rice koji and water. It uses Hida Homare and aims for a light, smooth taste. It can also be enjoyed warmed as kan
- 蓬莱 純米吟醸 家伝手造り (Hourai junmai ginjo) — A “junmai ginjo”, made only from rice, rice koji and water, with at least 40% of the outside of the rice polished away and fermented slowly at a low temperature. It uses Hida Homare grown under contract with the brewery, and is brewed in small batches
Hourai has many other products as well. The ingredients and rice polishing ratio differ from product to product, so please check the label for the type.
Visiting the brewery
Brewery tours
Watanabe Shuzoten offers brewery tours by reservation (checked on September 30, 2026). The tours resumed on May 7, 2025.
Tours are held on weekdays only and are paid. They take about 1 hour and require booking. The days, times, fees and booking deadlines differ between the brewery’s Japanese information and its English information. Before booking, please check the conditions on the brewery’s tour page.
- To book in Japanese: Brewery tour page. Phone 0120-359-352 (weekdays 8:30–17:30), email event@sake-hourai.co.jp
- To inquire in English: The brewery’s English page. Email global@sake-hourai.co.jp. The language of the tour guidance is not published, so please also confirm the language when you book
The content and route of the tour may change depending on the work going on in the brewery. The brewery asks that you always let it know by phone if you need to cancel or will be late. People who take part in the tasting cannot drive. Eating, drinking and smoking are not allowed inside the brewery. The brewery asks visitors to be careful not to drop accessories or mobile phones.
Brewery shop
The brewery shop is inside a white-walled earthen storehouse that is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property. It is open 9:00–16:00 and closes on irregular days (checked on September 30, 2026). You can taste some of the sake and the alcohol-free amazake (a sweet drink made from rice) for free. There is also a machine that lets you try expensive sake for 100 yen a glass. You can also freely drink the water used for brewing in the shop. Some sake is sold only at the brewery shop.
Sake bought after the tour can be kept for you free of charge while you walk around the town. Shipping within Japan is also available.
蔵まつり (brewery festival)
The brewery sometimes holds a “蔵まつり” (brewery festival) in spring. The most recent one was held on March 20 and 21, 2026. Please check the announcements on the brewery’s official website for the next dates.
Getting there
Address: 〒509-4234 岐阜県飛騨市古川町壱之町7-7
- By train: The nearest station is JR Hida-Furukawa Station, and you can walk from there to the brewery. The station is served by the limited express “Hida (ひだ)”, which connects the Nagoya and Osaka areas with the Toyama area. Takayama Station is also on the same line
- By car: The brewery has no parking. It is about a 5-minute walk from the free parking lot of Hida City Hall (岐阜県飛騨市古川町本町2-22)
Please check train times on the JR Central timetable. Some sections have few trains, so it is safest to check the last trains for both the outward and return journeys.
Opening days and tour arrangements may change. Please check the brewery’s official information before visiting.
Where to buy Watanabe Shuzoten’s sake
The surest place is the brewery shop in Hida-Furukawa. Some sake is sold only at the brewery shop.
The brewery also has an official online store, “渡辺酒造店 公式通販” (Watanabe Shuzoten official online store). You need to register as a member to buy. Shipping fees are listed for each prefecture in Japan, and nothing is written about shipping overseas (checked on September 30, 2026).
The brewery does not publish a list of stockists (checked on September 30, 2026). If you are looking for it at a store outside Gifu Prefecture, please contact the brewery.
Before you buy
- Whether a store carries the sake, and its stock, differ from store to store. Limited editions and seasonal products may not be stocked.
- Hourai has many products, and the ingredients and brewing methods differ from product to product. Please check the label for the type.
- 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 | 有限会社渡辺酒造店 (Watanabe Shuzoten) |
| Founded | 1870 (the 3rd year of the Meiji era) |
| Representative | 渡邉久憲 |
| Address | 〒509-4234 岐阜県飛騨市古川町壱之町7-7 Open in Google Maps |
| Phone | 0577-73-2347 (fax 0577-57-7334) |
| Main brand | Hourai (蓬莱) |
| Official website | https://www.sake-hourai.co.jp/ |
| Brewery tours | Available (weekdays only, paid, by reservation. Check the days, fees and booking deadline on the brewery’s tour page) |
| Brewery shop | Yes (9:00–16:00, closed on irregular days. Tasting available) |
| List of stockists | Not published (checked on September 30, 2026) |
| English support | English pages on the official website. The language of the tour guidance is not published |