Kagoshima

Sake in Kagoshima

Kagoshima Prefecture lies in southern Kyushu and is made up of the Satsuma and Osumi peninsulas and many outlying islands. The prefecture stretches about 600 km from north to south. Shochu is at the center of Kagoshima's drink-making, and 110 companies in the prefecture make shochu. In December 2005, “Satsuma,” shochu made from sweet potatoes, was designated under the geographical indication (GI) system, which protects the names of shochu-producing regions. Its conditions include using only sweet potatoes harvested in the prefecture (excluding Amami City and Oshima District) and water drawn in the prefecture.

Most of the prefecture is thickly covered with layers of “shirasu,” formed from volcanic ejecta. Shirasu plateaus drain well and suit growing sweet potatoes, which have been widely grown there since the Edo period. Sweet potatoes came from Ryukyu (now Okinawa Prefecture) in the 17th century and were first grown in Satsuma, which is why they are called “satsumaimo” in Japanese. The way of making sweet potato shochu was established and passed down by the craftsman groups known as the Kurose toji and the Ata toji, whose home areas are in what is now Minamisatsuma City (a toji is a master brewer).

There are very few sake breweries. In the one year from July 2024 to June 2025, sake was made at only 4 places even when Miyazaki, Kagoshima and Okinawa prefectures are counted together. One brewery making sake in the prefecture is Nishi Shuzo, in Fukiage, Hioki City, on the west coast of the Satsuma Peninsula. It is a shochu maker founded in 1845, and it also makes the sake “Tenbu.” As of August 2026, it has been making sake in Kagoshima for 6 years.

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