Who will enjoy this brewery
- People staying in Osaka or Kobe who are looking for a sake brewery they can reach by train (you can walk from the nearest station)
- People who want to see a place where sake is brewed through glass (this is not a guided brewery tour; closed on Wednesdays)
- People who want to taste sake (for a fee) at the brewery’s brand shop before choosing a bottle
- People who want to enjoy, besides sake, sweets and soft-serve ice cream that only a sake brewery can offer
About Ozeki
Ozeki (大関) is a sake brewing company with its head office in Imazu (今津), Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture (兵庫県西宮市). Its brand has the same name as the company: “Ozeki”.
In 1711, the first generation, Ozakaya Chobei (大坂屋長兵衛), began making sake in Imazu village under the shop name “Ozakaya (大坂屋)”. In 1964, the company released “One Cup Ozeki (ワンカップ大関)”, sake in a cup.
The place travelers can visit is the brand shop “Sekijuan (甘辛の関寿庵)” near the head office. On its grounds is “Sakigake-gura (魁蔵)”, a small brewery for hand brewing completed in October 2025, where you can see the brewing room through glass (checked on October 6, 2026).
The port town of Imazu, at the eastern end of Nada Gogo
Nada (灘) is a sake-producing area that stretches along the coast from Nada Ward in Kobe to Nishinomiya. It is divided into five districts called Nada Gogo (灘五郷, the five districts of Nada), and Imazugo (今津郷), where Ozeki is located, is the easternmost of them. In 2020, the history of sake making in Itami (伊丹) and Nada Gogo was recognized as “Japan Heritage”.
Many toji (master brewers; the people in charge of making sake) came to work at the sake breweries of Nada from the Tamba (丹波) region of Hyogo Prefecture. This line of toji is called “Tamba toji (丹波杜氏)”. Ozeki makes Karatamba, introduced below, with skills handed down from the Tamba toji, and Tamba toji are also in charge of brewing at Sakigake-gura.
Imazu is also a port town. In 1810, Chobei, the fifth generation of Ozeki’s founding family, built an all-night lantern at Imazu port at his own expense. This is today’s “Imazu Lighthouse (大関酒造今津灯台)”. In 1968 it was officially recognized by the Japan Coast Guard as a navigational aid, and it is also an Important Tangible Cultural Property designated by Nishinomiya City. In 2024, it was moved to the opposite bank of the port (今津真砂町) because of construction work on a drainage pumping station.
The brewery’s history overlaps with the events of the town. In the air raids of 1945, most of the head office facilities were burned down, and the head office facilities were also damaged in the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995.
From 1764, the brewery used the brand name “万両”. In 1884 it changed the name to “Ozeki” and applied for a trademark. In 1958, it began presenting “the Ozeki Cup (大関杯)” to the champion wrestler of professional sumo (Ozumo).
One Cup and Karatamba
At the head office in Nishinomiya, there are three breweries that make sake: Kotobuki-gura (寿蔵), completed in 1960; Kowa-gura (恒和蔵), rebuilt in 1996 together with a brewery that collapsed in the earthquake; and Sakigake-gura.
Here are three different types. Prices are the suggested retail prices (excluding tax) on the brewery’s product pages (checked on October 6, 2026).
- 上撰 金冠 ワンカップ (One Cup) — One Cup Ozeki was released on October 10, 1964, timed for the opening day of the Tokyo Olympics. This product is “futsu-shu”, sake that does not meet the conditions for any special designation. 265 yen for 180 ml
- 上撰 Karatamba (辛丹波) — Karatamba was released in 1988. This product is a “honjozo-shu”, with 30% or more of the outside of the rice polished away and a small amount of brewer’s alcohol added. For the rice koji (steamed rice on which koji mold has been grown), it uses Yamada Nishiki (山田錦) from Hyogo Prefecture. 1,050 yen for 720 ml
- 魁蔵 仕込第1号 天与の酒 junmai daiginjo (the first batch brewed at Sakigake-gura) — The first sake brewed at Sakigake-gura. It is a “junmai daiginjo”, made only from rice, rice koji and water, with more than half of the outside of the rice polished away. The rice used for the rice koji is Japanese rice, and only Yamada Nishiki from Hyogo Prefecture is used for the rest of the rice. Limited quantity, 7,273 yen for 720 ml
The name Karatamba contains the character “辛” (kara). In sake, “karakuchi (dry)” does not mean salty or spicy; it means a taste in which you feel little sweetness (→ Amakuchi and karakuchi). The brewery introduces Karatamba like this:
“A honjozo-shu with a light and dry (tanrei karakuchi) taste, featuring umami together with a crisp aftertaste.”
「旨味がありつつもキレのある後味が特徴の、淡麗辛口の本醸造酒です。」
— from “上撰 辛丹波” on Ozeki’s official website
In 1979, Ozeki also began brewing in Hollister, California, in the United States. The “Ozeki” you see in stores abroad includes products made at this brewery and products made in Hyogo Prefecture, such as Karatamba.
Sakigake-gura, a hand-brewing brewery seen through glass
Sakigake-gura is Ozeki’s first new brewery in 65 years. It is small, brewing at most 150 kg of rice at a time, and everything from washing the rice to bottling is done by hand. It was built as a brewery where experienced toji and young brewers work together, and the first batch, 天与の酒, was made by six Tamba toji.
The name 天与の酒 comes from the words 「天与の酒造り」 (roughly, “sake making given by heaven”) on a wooden plaque hung at Sakigake-gura. The words express the idea that good rice, water and yeast can grow only because of nature given by heaven.
Visiting the brewery
Sakigake-gura and Sekijuan
Sakigake-gura is on the grounds of Sekijuan. The brewing room has glass walls and was built so that you can see the sake-making process up close. The hours when you can see it match Sekijuan’s business days. The official website gives no information about guided brewery tours or booking (checked on October 6, 2026).
Sekijuan is Ozeki’s brand shop, opened in 2001. When you enter the shop, the sake section is on the left, where you can taste Ozeki’s sake and freshly pressed nama genshu (unpasteurized, undiluted sake) for a fee. Straight ahead are sweets made with sake and fermentation techniques. In the café corner at the back, you can eat soft-serve ice cream mixed with sake-dough steamed buns (酒饅頭) and other treats while looking at the courtyard.
| Sekijuan and Sakigake-gura (checked on October 6, 2026) | |
|---|---|
| Address | 兵庫県西宮市今津出在家町3-3 (Sakigake-gura is on the grounds of Sekijuan) Open in Google Maps |
| Opening hours | 10:00–18:00 (the same hours apply for seeing Sakigake-gura) |
| Closed | Wednesdays, and January 1–3. Open until 13:00 on December 31 |
| Tasting | Fee charged |
| Parking | 5 spaces behind the shop |
| Phone | 0798-32-3039 |
If you go by car, the driver cannot take part in tasting. Drinking and driving is prohibited by law.
Every year, Ozeki opens its staff cafeteria as a pop-up bar, “大関 魁Bar”, timed for 西宮酒ぐらルネサンスと食フェア (a sake and food festival in Nishinomiya). The most recent was on October 3 and 4, 2026. Please check the official announcements for the next dates.
Getting there
- Train: You can walk from Imazu Station on the Hanshin Railway and Hankyu Railway, or from Kusugawa Station (久寿川) on the Hanshin Railway
Please check which trains stop at each station and their times on the official pages for Hanshin Railway’s Imazu Station and Kusugawa Station, and Hankyu Railway’s Imazu Station.
Other sake breweries in Hyogo Prefecture are introduced on the Hyogo page.
Opening days and tour arrangements may change. Please check the brewery’s official information before visiting.
Where to buy Ozeki’s sake
To buy at the brewery, go to Sekijuan. Some products are sold only at Sekijuan.
The brewery’s official online store is the “Ozeki online shop”.
- Ozeki 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 | 大関株式会社 (Ozeki Co., Ltd.) |
| Founded | 1711 (正徳元年) |
| Representative | President and Representative Director 長部訓子 |
| Address | 〒663-8227 兵庫県西宮市今津出在家町4番9号 Open in Google Maps |
| Phone | 0798-32-2111 (main) |
| Main brands | Ozeki (大関), One Cup Ozeki, Karatamba |
| Breweries | Kotobuki-gura, Kowa-gura and Sakigake-gura (all at the head office in Nishinomiya) |
| Official website | https://www.ozeki.co.jp/ |
| Brewery tours | You can see the brewing room of Sakigake-gura through glass (on the grounds of Sekijuan; closed on Wednesdays) |
| Brewery shop | Sekijuan (brand shop) / Ozeki online shop |
| English support | The official website has English pages |