Who will enjoy this brewery
- People who want to book a brewery tour and a sake tasting flight in western Kanagawa Prefecture (it is a paid experience that requires a reservation)
- People who want to relax with a drink of sake in the brewery’s garden or plaza, without a reservation
- People who want to compare three sakes in which only the sake rice is changed
About Seto Shuzo-Ten
Seto Shuzo-Ten (瀬戸酒造店) is a brewery in Kanaijima (金井島), Kaisei, Kanagawa Prefecture. It was founded in 1865 (Keio 1). In 1980 it stopped brewing in its own brewery, and in 2018 it renewed its brewery and well and resumed brewing. Its brands are three series: “Setoichi (セトイチ)”, “Sakata Nishiki (酒田錦)” and “Ashigari Go (あしがり郷)”.
Seto Shuzo-Ten accepts brewery tours as a paid experience that requires a reservation (checked on October 27, 2026). The garden and plaza on its grounds are open to the public as the “Sake Terrace”, and entry is free.
“Sakata-mura” on the Ashigara Plain
Kaisei is a town on the Ashigara Plain, which spreads out in western Kanagawa Prefecture. Because the land is flat and water is plentiful, most of the plain was once rice paddies. The area around Seto Shuzo-Ten was a thriving place for growing sake rice, and was called “Sakata-mura (酒田村)”.
Seto Shuzo-Ten’s main brand “Sakata Nishiki” sold well, and in its best years the brewery made 600 koku (about 100,000 liters) of sake. However, it could no longer gather a toji (the person responsible for making the sake) and kurabito (brewery workers), and in 1980 it stopped brewing in its own brewery.
The decision to restart came from a wish to share Kaisei’s clean water and to make the brewery a source of energy for the town. In 2018, 38 years after brewing stopped, the brewery tore down the old building, built a new one, welcomed a toji and began brewing. Since then, its watchword has been “suikyo de iko (酔狂で行こう)”, meaning “let’s dare to break with convention”.
Three series
Sakata Nishiki is a series that revives the brewery’s former main brand. It is made with the yeast that had settled in the old brewery, “kuratsuki kobo (蔵付き酵母, the yeast that lives in the brewery)”, and with rice from the Ashigara Plain.
Ashigari Go is a series made with yeast taken from hydrangeas, the town flower of Kaisei. Kaisei is known for あじさいまつり (the town’s hydrangea festival), a festival of hydrangeas blooming among the fields.
Setoichi is a series that the toji makes with free ideas. Each product has a different name and label, and many are named directly after Japanese expressions, such as “はるばる” (“all the way from afar”), “かくかくしかじか” (“and so on and so forth”) and “風が吹いたら” (“when the wind blows”). For example, “手の鳴る方へ” (“toward the clapping hands”) is brewed by the traditional, labor-intensive method called “kimoto (生酛)” and bottled as it is, without adding water, as “genshu (原酒)”. “風が吹いたら” is made with a smaller proportion of water used in brewing.
Within Setoichi, three “junmai daiginjo” are made so that they can be compared side by side. All are made only from rice, rice koji and water, with half or more of the outer part of the rice polished away. Same water, same yeast — only the sake rice differs. “Setoichi ※Y” uses Yamada Nishiki, “※O” uses Omachi, and “※A” uses Aiyama (愛山). For other products, the rice and the rice polishing ratio differ from product to product, so please check the label for the type.
Visiting the brewery
Brewery tours are a paid experience that requires a reservation
Applications for Seto Shuzo-Ten’s brewery tours are handled through the experience-booking website “Otonami” (resumed with new content in October 2024; checked on October 27, 2026).
- Content: A tour of the brewery (the stages you can see differ by season), a tasting flight of 3 sakes, dishes of ingredients seasoned with sake lees or koji grilled on a shichirin (七輪, a small charcoal grill), and a bottle of sake (300 ml) to take home
- Days and times: Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 15:00–18:00 (about 180 minutes). In usual years it is not held in July and August
- Fee: From 15,000 yen per person (tax included). 1–9 people. Participants must be 20 or older
- Reservation: Choose a date and apply on Otonami’s booking page. The booking page is in Japanese only. Whether the experience can be taken in a language other than Japanese has not been published
Sake Terrace and the brewery shop
Seto Shuzo-Ten opens its whole grounds to the public as the “Sake Terrace”. There are three areas — “niwa”, where you look out over a Japanese garden from the engawa veranda; “hiroba”, a plaza in front of the brewery and the old chimney; and “sono”, where flowers and plants spread out — and you can drink sake bought at the brewery shop in any of them. Entry is free, and seats cannot be reserved. On Saturdays and Sundays, a food truck, “Sake Bar”, selling the brewery’s sake and snacks, sometimes comes (not every week).
- Brewery shop hours: Thursday–Sunday and national holidays, 10:00–18:00. Closed Monday–Wednesday (open on national holidays)
- Phone: 0465-82-0055
Getting there
Address: 〒258-0028 神奈川県足柄上郡開成町金井島17
- By train and bus: From Shin-Matsuda Station on the Odakyu Line, take a Hakone Tozan Bus bound for Sekimoto, get off at “Yotsukado (四ツ角)”, and walk about 20 minutes. Please check bus times, including the last services both there and back, on Hakone Tozan Bus’s official website
- On foot: About 40 minutes’ walk from Kaisei Station or Shin-Matsuda Station on the Odakyu Line
- By car: About 15 minutes from the 大井松田 interchange on the 東名高速道路 expressway. Parking is available
Travel times are estimates (checked on October 27, 2026). If you are driving, please do not drink sake. In Japan, drunk driving is prohibited by law.
Opening days and tour arrangements may change. Please check the brewery’s official information before visiting.
Where to buy Seto Shuzo-Ten’s sake
The brewery’s official website is itself an online shop. On its official website’s list of stores (買える店), the brewery publishes 74 stockists across Japan. Of these, 43 are in Kanagawa Prefecture and 12 in Tokyo. We have picked stores that are easy to stop by during a trip (checked on October 27, 2026).
| Area | Store | Address | Store website |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hakone | 箱根湯谷 酒岳堂 井島商店 | 神奈川県足柄下郡箱根町湯本 | http://shugakudou.com/ |
| Odawara | 箱根屋酒店 | 神奈川県小田原市 | https://www.hakoneyasaketen.com/ |
| Yokohama | 横浜君嶋屋（本店） | 神奈川県横浜市南区 | https://kimijimaya.co.jp/ |
| Tokyo | 銀座君嶋屋 | 東京都中央区銀座 | https://kimijimaya.co.jp/shop/ginza |
| Osaka | 日本酒セラーHARETOKE | 大阪府大阪市福島区 | https://haretoke.biz/ |
For stores in other areas, please check the list. There are no stores in Kyoto on the list.
Before you buy
- The brands carried differ from store to store. Stock differs by store, and limited products may not come in, so 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
Other breweries in Kanagawa Prefecture are gathered on our Kanagawa Prefecture page.
Brewery facts
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Brewery | 株式会社瀬戸酒造店 (Seto Shuzo-Ten) |
| Founded | 1865 (Keio 1). Brewing stopped in 1980 and resumed in 2018 |
| Address | 〒258-0028 神奈川県足柄上郡開成町金井島17 Open in Google Maps |
| Phone | 0465-82-0055 |
| Main brands | Setoichi (セトイチ), Sakata Nishiki (酒田錦), Ashigari Go (あしがり郷) |
| Official website | https://setosyuzo.ashigarigo.com/ |
| Brewery tours | A paid experience that requires a reservation (apply through Otonami. Thu–Sun 15:00–18:00, from 15,000 yen; checked on October 27, 2026) |
| Brewery shop | Thu–Sun and national holidays 10:00–18:00 (closed Mon–Wed; open on national holidays) |
| Sake Terrace | The garden and plaza on the grounds are open to the public. Free entry; seats cannot be reserved |
| Mail order | Official online shop |
| List of stockists | Published (74 stores; checked on October 27, 2026) |
| English support | An English brewery introduction page and inquiry form (For foreigners) |