Who will enjoy this brewery
- People who want to stop at a sake brewery on the way from Asahikawa toward Sounkyo (層雲峡) (you cannot go inside the brewery, but you can watch the brewing work through viewing windows outside)
- People who want to try sake made from sake rice (rice suited to making sake) grown in Hokkaido
- People looking for sake that can only be bought in the town they are visiting
- People who want to choose sake or sake lees available only here, at the gift shop next to the brewery
About Kamikawa Taisetsu Sake Brewery
Kamikawa Taisetsu Sake Brewery (上川大雪酒造) is a sake brewery in Kamikawa (上川町), Kamikawa District, Hokkaido. The brewery in Kamikawa is called “Ryokkyu-gura (緑丘蔵)”, and it began making sake in May 2017. Its brand is “Kamikawa Taisetsu (上川大雪)”.
The company later built “碧雲蔵” on the campus of the national Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine in Obihiro. In Hakodate, a group company makes sake at “五稜乃蔵”. This page covers Ryokkyu-gura in Kamikawa.
Tours inside the brewery are not available. Through the viewing windows outside, you can look freely without a booking. There is also a gift shop next to the brewery (checked on September 30, 2026).
Ryokkyu-gura’s Kamikawa Taisetsu received a gold award 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).
A town with long winters at the foot of Daisetsuzan
Kamikawa lies at the foot of Daisetsuzan National Park (大雪山国立公園). The average annual temperature is about 5.5°C, and in winter it can drop to minus 20°C. It is a small town with a population of fewer than 3,200 people. Sounkyo Onsen, a hot spring area in the town, receives around 2 million visitors a year.
Kamikawa Taisetsu Sake Brewery began in 2016, when a sake company in Mie Prefecture that had suspended sake production was moved to this town. Even before the brewery was built, a dozen or so townspeople formed a group called “酒蔵支えTaI” (さかぐらささえたい), and on their days off they have helped with work at the brewery and with cutting grass.
The brewing water is natural water at about 7°C, whose source is spring water from the Daisetsuzan mountains, which are capped with year-round snow. The brewery buys three kinds of Hokkaido sake rice — “彗星”, “吟風” and “Kitashizuku (きたしずく)” — from growers it knows personally.
A small-batch brewery that makes only junmai sake
Ryokkyu-gura makes only “junmai-shu”, sake made only from rice, rice koji and water. Within that, it also makes “junmai ginjo” — made only from rice, rice koji and water, with at least 40% of the outer part of the rice polished away and fermented slowly at a low temperature — and “junmai daiginjo”, with more than half of the outer part of the rice polished away.
It does not use large brewing tanks. The “moromi” (fermenting mash: the base of the sake while it ferments) is brewed in small batches, one tank at a time, by hand.
The brewery describes the sake it aims for like this.
“Not something extreme, but sake that is simply delicious. We aim for sake making that brings joy to as many people as possible.”
「極端なものではなく、普通に美味しいお酒。より多くの人が喜んでくれる酒造りを目指します。」 — From Kamikawa Taisetsu Sake Brewery’s official website
The brewery calls this approach “futsu ni tsukuru” (普通に造る, “brewing normally”), and its goal is “nomasaru sake” (飲まさる酒). “Nomasaru” is a Hokkaido expression meaning “you just can’t help drinking it”.
“神川”, sold only in Kamikawa
Kamikawa Taisetsu Sake Brewery has a regional limited sake, “神川”, sold only within the Kamikawa area. It is carried by liquor stores and convenience stores in the town, but it is not sold at the brewery’s own shop or its own online shop (checked on September 30, 2026).
Visiting the brewery
Viewing windows and gift shop
Tours inside Ryokkyu-gura are not accepted, to protect product hygiene. You can look freely through the viewing windows outside. In the snowy winter season, viewing from outside may also not be possible. Sake brewing is scheduled from October to July of the following year (checked on September 30, 2026).
The gift shop next to the brewery carries Kamikawa Taisetsu’s standard products, as well as shop-only sake, foods such as sake lees (sake kasu), sake vessels and tenugui hand towels.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Opening hours | Summer 10:00–16:00 / Winter 10:00–15:00 |
| Closed | Irregular (please ask the shop) |
| Phone | 01658-7-7380 (gift shop) |
Opening hours and closing days were checked on September 30, 2026.
Brewery festival
Ryokkyu-gura holds a brewery festival (kura matsuri). The 2026 festival will be the second, and is planned as an event marking the 10th anniversary of the brewery’s founding (as of August 25, 2026). Please check the dates and details in the announcements on the brewery’s official website.
Getting there
Address: 〒078-1761 北海道上川郡上川町旭町25番地1
- Train: About a 20-minute walk from JR Kamikawa Station (上川駅). The JR Hokkaido limited express “Okhotsk”, which runs between Sapporo and Abashiri, stops in Kamikawa. Please check train times on JR Hokkaido
- Car: About 5 minutes from Kamikawa Sounkyo IC on the Asahikawa-Monbetsu Expressway. Please do not drive after tasting or buying sake
Travel times are estimates as of September 2026. Some sections have few services, so it is a good idea to check the last services 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 Kamikawa Taisetsu Sake Brewery’s sake
Kamikawa Taisetsu is sold at the brewery’s own stores, its official online store, and authorized retailers (tokuyakuten; liquor stores with a special agreement with the brewery) across Japan.
The brewery’s own stores and official online store
- Ryokkyu-gura gift shop (Kamikawa) — see “Viewing windows and gift shop” above
- KAMIKAWA TAISETSU Sapporo (札幌市中央区大通西5丁目8 昭和ビル地下1階) — 11:00–19:00, closed Sundays and public holidays (also irregular closing days). Phone 011-206-8268
- Official online store
Opening hours were checked on September 30, 2026.
Authorized retailers of Kamikawa Taisetsu
The brewery publishes a list of authorized retailers on its official website. It lists about 200 stores, from Hokkaido to Kyushu. The list also includes stores that carry only “Tokachi (十勝)”, the brand of 碧雲蔵 in Obihiro, so we have chosen, from the stores that carry Kamikawa Taisetsu, those that are easy to stop by during a trip (checked on September 30, 2026).
| Area | Store | Address |
|---|---|---|
| Asahikawa | 和酒角打 うえ田舎 | 北海道旭川市4条通8丁目1703-91 Open in Google Maps |
| Asahikawa | 小川商店 | 北海道旭川市6条西3丁目1番10号 Open in Google Maps |
| Sapporo (Susukino) | 根本酒店 | 北海道札幌市中央区南4条西4丁目1番1 COCONO SUSUKINO 地下1階 Open in Google Maps |
| Hakodate | 地酒屋醸 函館店 | 北海道函館市本通4丁目34-1 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 (Azabu-Juban) | はせがわ酒店 | 東京都港区麻布十番2-3-3 Open in Google Maps |
| Osaka | 山中酒の店 | 大阪府大阪市浪速区敷津西1-10-19 Open in Google Maps |
| Kyoto | ヴィノスやまざき 京都店 | 京都府京都市下京区函谷鉾 101 ラクエ四条烏丸 地下1階 Open in Google Maps |
| Fukuoka (Hakata) | 住吉酒販 | 福岡県福岡市博多区住吉3丁目8-27 Open in Google Maps |
For other stores and each store’s phone number, please check 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 arrive at every store, so please check with the store before visiting.
- Kamikawa Taisetsu has many products, and the ingredients and brewing methods differ from product to product. Please check the label for the type.
- The regional limited “神川” is carried only by stores in the Kamikawa area.
- 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 | 上川大雪酒造株式会社 (Kamikawa Taisetsu Sake Brewery Co., Ltd.) |
| Breweries | Ryokkyu-gura (Kamikawa). Also 碧雲蔵 (Obihiro) and 五稜乃蔵 (Hakodate) |
| Start of sake making | May 2017 (Ryokkyu-gura) |
| Representative | President and Representative Director 塚原敏夫 |
| Address | 〒078-1761 北海道上川郡上川町旭町25番地1 Open in Google Maps |
| Phone | 01658-7-7388 (Ryokkyu-gura) / 01658-7-7380 (gift shop) |
| Main brand | Kamikawa Taisetsu (上川大雪) |
| Official website | https://kamikawa-taisetsu.co.jp/ |
| Brewery tours | Not available inside the brewery. Free viewing through the viewing windows outside (may not be possible in winter) |
| Sales at the brewery | Gift shop next to the brewery |
| List of stockists | Published on the official website (about 200 stores; checked on September 30, 2026) |
| English support | Not published |