Who will enjoy this brewery
- People who want to stop at the brewery’s own shop in Shijo-Karasuma (四条烏丸), in central Kyoto, and drink Tamanohikari sake with dishes made with sake lees (the brewery in Fushimi does not accept brewery tours or tastings)
- People who want to choose and compare several sakes made without adding brewer’s alcohol
- People who want to choose sake by the difference in rice variety, such as Omachi from Okayama or Iwai from Kyoto
About Tamanohikari Sake Brewing
Tamanohikari Sake Brewing (玉乃光酒造) is a brewery in Higashisakai-machi (東堺町), in Fushimi (伏見), in the south of Kyoto City. Its brand is “Tamanohikari (玉乃光)”. Because the company name and the brand name are almost the same, this article writes “Tamanohikari Sake Brewing” for the company and “Tamanohikari” for the products.
Tamanohikari Sake Brewing was founded in 1673, not in Fushimi but in Wakayama (和歌山). It moved to Fushimi after World War II. Today it mainly makes “junmai ginjo” and “junmai daiginjo”, sake made without adding brewer’s alcohol.
The brewery in Fushimi does not accept brewery tours or tastings. At the brewery’s head office, you can buy sake on weekdays. In central Kyoto there is “純米酒粕 玉乃光”, a restaurant and shop run directly by the brewery (checked on October 19, 2026).
How a sakaya from 紀州 came to move to Fushimi
The founder, Nakaya Rokuzaemon (中屋六左衛門), received a license to brew sake in the time of 徳川光貞, the second lord of the 紀州 Domain (today’s Wakayama Prefecture), and started a sakaya (a house that brewed and sold sake) in Wakayama City. The successive heads of the family worshipped at Kumano Hayatama Taisha (熊野速玉大社), in Kumano (熊野), 紀州. The name “Tamanohikari” is said to have been given by the chief priest of this shrine. Even today, every autumn the brewery offers new sake to the shrines of the Kumano Sanzan (熊野三山, the three grand shrines of Kumano), including Kumano Hayatama Taisha.
Tamanohikari Sake Brewing, which had grown into a large brewery in Wakayama, lost all of its brewery buildings in an air raid in 1945. The new place chosen by 宇治田福時, the 11th head of the family, was Fushimi in Kyoto, blessed with good underground water. In 1949, TAMANOHIKARI Sake Brewing Co., Ltd. was established, and from 1952 to around 1970 the brewery moved to Fushimi. How the town and water of Fushimi came to be is introduced in our article on Gekkeikan, also in Fushimi.
Tamanohikari Sake Brewing uses the underground water of Fushimi, whose source is the Momoyama Hills (桃山丘陵), for every step from washing the rice to brewing.
Toward sake made without brewer’s alcohol
During the war, because rice was in short supply, and after the war, to raise profits, adding brewer’s alcohol to sake had become the main way of making it. 宇治田福時 wanted to make a sake that would not give him a hangover when he drank it, and in 1964 he started again to make “junmai-shu”, sake made only from rice, rice koji and water. In 1966 the brewery released “超特級 Tamanohikari” (sold as “super special grade”), a sake with no added sugars or the like.
In 1980, Tamanohikari Sake Brewing switched all of its junmai-shu to the “junmai ginjo” way of making sake. Junmai ginjo is sake made only from rice, rice koji and water, with 40% or more of the outer part of the rice polished away, and fermented slowly at a low temperature. Today’s products center on this junmai ginjo and “junmai daiginjo”, with more than half of the outer part of the rice polished away. Besides sake, the brewery also makes shochu and liqueur.
For rice, the brewery uses “Omachi (雄町)”, a sake rice born in Okayama Prefecture, “Yamada Nishiki (山田錦)”, “Iwai (祝)”, a sake rice born in Kyoto, and others. Omachi is difficult to grow, and at one time the area planted with it had fallen sharply. In the 1980s, Tamanohikari Sake Brewing worked with farmers in Okayama to revive the growing of Omachi, and began making Omachi sake. Since 2014 it has also worked on growing rice without pesticides, and makes sake with organically farmed Omachi and Yamada Nishiki.
Rather than relying on an outside plant, the brewery polishes its rice with its own rice-polishing machine. The rice is steamed in a koshiki (甑, a large steamer for rice), and all the rice koji is made by hand. For a long time, the brewery entrusted its sake making to toji (the person responsible for making the sake) who came from Tajima (但馬), in northern Hyogo Prefecture, but in 2017 it appointed one of its own employees as toji for the first time.
Tamanohikari sake
Tamanohikari has many products, and the ingredients and brewing methods differ from product to product. Please check the label for the type. Here are three of different types. Prices are tax-included prices at the brewery’s official online store (checked on October 19, 2026).
- Tamanohikari Junmai Ginjo Shukon (純米吟醸 酒魂) — The brewery’s standard junmai ginjo. The rice is grown in Japan. Its aroma and taste are “a crisp taste with a good balance of the umami and acidity of the rice” (「米の旨味と酸味のバランスの取れたキレのある味わい」; from Tamanohikari Sake Brewing’s product information). 720 ml 1,320 yen
- Tamanohikari Junmai Daiginjo Bizen Omachi 100% (純米大吟醸 備前雄町100%) — A junmai daiginjo made only from Omachi. Its aroma and taste are “a natural, soft aroma unique to Omachi rice, and a mouthfeel in which natural acidity and umami are in harmony” (「雄町米特有の自然なやわらかい香り、天然の酸味と旨味が調和した飲み口」; from Tamanohikari Sake Brewing’s product information). 720 ml 2,970 yen
- Tamanohikari Junmai Daiginjo Kokoro no Kyo (純米大吟醸 こころの京) — A junmai daiginjo made only from “Iwai”, a sake rice born in Kyoto. It is a “Kyoto-only” product and is not sold at the brewery’s official online store. The price is not published
Visiting the brewery
There are no brewery tours or tastings
Tamanohikari Sake Brewing does not accept brewery tours. Its company profile page says, “We do not offer brewery tours.” (「蔵見学は行っておりません。」). Tastings are not accepted at the brewery either (checked on October 19, 2026).
You can buy sake at the head office in Fushimi. It is open on weekdays only. Because the opening hours differ depending on the source, please contact the head office (075-611-5000) before visiting.
Getting there: About 15 minutes on foot west along 下板橋通り (a street) from the west exit of Tambabashi Station (丹波橋駅) on the Keihan Main Line, or Kintetsu-Tambabashi Station (近鉄丹波橋駅) on the Kintetsu Kyoto Line (checked on October 19, 2026). Please check train times on pages such as Kintetsu’s station information and timetable for Kintetsu-Tambabashi Station. Please also check the times for your return trip.
Brewery open day in Fushimi
Tamanohikari Sake Brewing held its first brewery open day (kura-biraki) in 2013. In 2026 it has announced a joint brewery open day, “たまこく2026秋”, with 松山酒造, another brewery in the same Higashisakai-machi, to be held on Saturday, October 24, from 10:00 to 16:00. Entry is free, and there will be paid tastings, food stalls and workshops. The announcement does not mention brewery tours. Please check the brewery’s official announcements for the next dates.
The brewery plans to renovate “東蔵”, a wooden brewery building built in 1924, and open it in October 2028 as a new facility for food, drink and shopping (checked on October 19, 2026).
純米酒粕 玉乃光 (the brewery’s restaurant and shop)
A shop run directly by the brewery, near Shijo-Karasuma in central Kyoto. It is a renovated 100-year-old kyo-machiya (a traditional wooden Kyoto townhouse). The ground floor is a tasting bar where you can casually drink sake, and the floor above it is a restaurant where you can have a meal. It serves the brewery’s sake and dishes made with “sake lees (sake kasu)”, what remains after the sake is pressed. Limited sakes that can be drunk only at this shop are sometimes served. The shop sells sake and foods made with sake lees.
| 純米酒粕 玉乃光 (checked on October 19, 2026) | |
|---|---|
| Address | 〒600-8415 京都府京都市下京区因幡堂町658-1 (just east of the intersection of 烏丸通 and 高辻通) Open in Google Maps |
| Tasting bar and restaurant | 11:30–15:00 (last order 14:30), 17:30–22:00 (last order 21:30) |
| Shop | Open at lunchtime and in the evening. The evening opening time differs depending on the source, so please ask the shop |
| Closed | Irregular holidays. Closed December 31–January 3 |
| Phone | 075-352-1673 |
| Reservations | Booking page (Japanese) |
| English | English support is not published |
The shop has no parking lot. If you drink sake, please do not drive. 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 Tamanohikari Sake Brewing’s sake
The brewery’s own sales points: The head office in Fushimi (weekdays only), and the shop at 純米酒粕 玉乃光.
Official online store: There is “Tamanohikari’s official online shop”. Shipping fees are shown by region within Japan, and there is no information about shipping abroad. Purchases are limited to people aged 20 or older (checked on October 19, 2026).
Tasting and sales events: The brewery publishes on its official website the schedule of tasting and sales events it holds at department stores and elsewhere. The schedule for October to December 2026 includes department stores in Kyoto City, a liquor store at Kyoto Station, and a duty-free shop at Kansai International Airport. Please ask each store whether there will be tasting (checked on October 19, 2026).
The brewery does not publish a list of stockists on its official website (checked on October 19, 2026).
Before you buy
- Stock differs from store to store. Seasonal products and products made in limited quantities may be sold out.
- 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 Kyoto Prefecture are gathered on our Kyoto Prefecture page.
Brewery facts
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Company | 玉乃光酒造株式会社 (TAMANOHIKARI Sake Brewing Co., Ltd.) |
| Founded | 1673 (the 1st year of the Enpo era), in Wakayama City. The company was established in 1949 |
| Representatives | Chairman and Representative Director 丸山恒生 / President and Representative Director 羽場洋介 |
| Address | 〒612-8066 京都府京都市伏見区東堺町545-2 Open in Google Maps |
| Phone | 075-611-5000 (fax 075-601-0004) |
| Main brand | Tamanohikari (玉乃光) |
| Main rice used | Omachi, Yamada Nishiki, Iwai and others |
| Brewing water | Underground water of Fushimi, whose source is the Momoyama Hills |
| Official website | https://tamanohikari.co.jp/ (English https://tamanohikari.co.jp/en ) |
| Brewery tours | Not accepted |
| Tasting | Not accepted at the brewery |
| Sales at the brewery | Sold at the head office (weekdays only; please ask for opening hours) |
| Brewery-owned store | 純米酒粕 玉乃光 (Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto; restaurant and shop) |
| Official online store | Available (information given only for shipping within Japan) |
| List of stockists | Not published (checked on October 19, 2026) |
| English support | An English official website is available. English support at the brewery-owned store is not published |