Saitama

Sake in Saitama

Saitama Prefecture lies in the Kanto region, is surrounded by one metropolis (Tokyo) and six prefectures, and does not face the sea. The Saitama Sake Brewers Association has 32 member companies (as of October 2026). In the one year from July 2024 to June 2025, sake was made at 21 places in the prefecture. The amount of sake made in the prefecture ranks 4th among Japan's prefectures for the same year.

Two large rivers support this sake. The 荒川 and the Tone River flow through the prefecture, and its breweries make their sake with underground water from the 荒川 and Tone River systems. Water from the 荒川 system tends to be slightly harder than that of the Tone River system, but the water in the prefecture is soft water (water low in minerals) overall, producing sake that is soft and mellow in the mouth.

Rice and people support it too. In 2004, the prefecture's Agriculture and Forestry Research Center, after 12 years of work, developed “さけ武蔵,” the prefecture's first rice variety suited to sake brewing (shuzo kotekimai). It is a large-grained variety whose father is “Wakamizu” and whose mother is “Kairyo Hattan Nagare,” and it has a shinpaku, a white, opaque part at the center of the grain. It is grown mainly around Kumagaya City. The North Research Institute of the prefecture's Industrial Technology Center has developed yeasts (the microorganism that carries out fermentation) suited to ginjo brewing (polishing away the outer 40% or more of the rice grain and fermenting it slowly at low temperatures). In 2005, “彩の国酒造り学校” opened, a school where young technicians working at breweries in the prefecture study sake brewing over 2 years.

Brewery map

Featured breweries

• Nanyojozo 南陽釀造花陽浴 / Nanyo 南陽HaniyuRead the article