島根県

Shimane

Terraced rice fields in Okuizumo. Harvested paddies step down from the foreground, red-roofed houses dot the valley, and mist-covered mountains surround it — Terraced rice fields in Okuizumo Town. Harvested paddies rise in steps, and mist hangs over the mountains (November).Indiana jo ／ CC BY-SA 4.0 ／ Wikimedia Commons（resized to 1280 px on the long side）

Sake in Shimane

Shimane Prefecture lies in the north of the Chugoku region and faces the Sea of Japan to the north. The Oki Islands, 40 to 80 km north of the 島根半島 peninsula, are also part of Shimane Prefecture. The Shimane Sake Brewers Association has 28 member companies, and there is also a brewery in Okinoshima Town in the Oki Islands (as of October 2026). In the one year from July 2024 to June 2025, sake was made at 24 places in the prefecture.

The Shimane Sake Brewers Association presents Shimane as “the birthplace of sake.” As the basis, it points to descriptions of sake in old writings. In the Izumo myths of the 古事記, “Yashiori no Sake” appears in the story of the slaying of the Yamata no Orochi. The 出雲国風土記, compiled in the Nara period, records that gods gathered in the land of Saka to brew sake and hold a feast. Saka Shrine (松尾神社) in Izumo City is a shrine that enshrines Kusunokami, regarded as a god of sake brewing. The shrine holds a license to brew 1 石 (180 L) of sake each year, and its chief priest serves as toji (master brewer) to brew cloudy sake. This sake is served to worshippers at the autumn grand festival on October 13 every year.

As for rice, Shimane Prefecture has developed rice varieties suited to sake brewing (shuzo kotekimai) such as “Kairyo Omachi,” “Kairyo Hattan Nagare,” “Kan no Mai” and “Saka Nishiki.” The sake rice with the largest planted area in the prefecture is “Gohyakumangoku,” developed in Niigata Prefecture. In October 2018, an application was filed to register “Enishi no Mai,” a variety the prefecture developed aiming for a high-quality sake rice that can also be used for daiginjo (sake made by polishing away the outer half or more of the rice grain and adding a small amount of brewer's alcohol) and other sake. The prefecture awards the Shimane Governor's Prize to the brewery that made the best sake in the ginjo-shu category of the “Shimane Prefecture New Sake Competition” held every year by the association (May 2026).

Brewery map

Breweries by municipality (dot size shows the number of breweries)Featured breweries

李白酒造Matsue
Oroku Shuzo 王祿酒造Matsue

The 32 breweries on our list are grouped by the municipality where they are located. Each dot marks a representative point of the municipality, not the brewery itself (featured breweries are shown at their actual locations). Locations are based on the address search of the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan.

Featured breweries

Oroku Shuzo 王祿酒造Oroku 王祿MatsueRead the article
李白酒造李白MatsueRead the article