Who will enjoy this brewery
- People who want to drop in at the tasting corner attached to the brewery while walking around the castle town of Matsue, and taste sake for free before choosing a bottle (the brewery does not offer brewery tours)
- People who want to drink “Wandering Poet”, which they have seen abroad, in the hometown of the brewery that makes it
- People looking for a sake with a name taken from Izumo mythology as a souvenir of their trip
About Rihaku Sake Brewing
Rihaku Sake Brewing (李白酒造) is a brewery in Ishibashi-cho (石橋町), Matsue, Shimane Prefecture (島根県松江市). It was founded on this site in 1882 by 田中竹次郎. Its brand is “Rihaku (李白)”, a name taken from Li Bai (also known in English as Li Po), a poet of the Tang dynasty in China.
The brewery does not offer brewery tours. Instead, at the “Rihaku tasting corner” attached to the brewery, you can taste about 10 kinds of sake for free and buy them on the spot (checked on October 6, 2026).
Rihaku Sake Brewing has exported sake abroad since the 1980s. Its main export destinations include Hong Kong, the United States, Singapore, South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, Brazil and France (checked on October 6, 2026).
“Rihaku”, a name given by a former prime minister
Li Bai was a poet who left many poems praising wine and was called the “Immortal of Poetry” (詩仙). Du Fu, another poet of the Tang dynasty, wrote of Li Bai: 「李白一斗詩百篇」 (“Li Bai, with one dou of wine, writes a hundred poems”).
The person who gave the brewery this name was Reijiro Wakatsuki (若槻礼次郎), who was born in Matsue and served twice as prime minister. In 1928, the brewery received the sake name “Rihaku” from Wakatsuki. Wakatsuki loved poetry and sake, and he was especially fond of Matsue’s Rihaku. When he attended the London Naval Conference as chief delegate (chief plenipotentiary), he took a straw-wrapped sake cask of Rihaku with him and drank it morning and evening. The characters “李白” on the label are also copied from Wakatsuki’s calligraphy.
When the brewery became a corporation in 1950, its name was “田中酒造有限会社 (the former company name)”. In 1993, it changed the name to “李白酒造有限会社”, the same name as the brand. Since 2010, 田中裕一郎 has served as president.
In a castle town of waterways
Matsue is a town of waterways that still keeps the atmosphere of the castle town of the Matsudaira family. Shiomi Nawate (塩見縄手) is the street that winds along the moat on the north side of Matsue Castle, and samurai residences remain along it. Rihaku Sake Brewing is about a 10–15 minute walk from Shiomi Nawate.
The brewery aims to carry on the tradition of sake making that appears in Izumo mythology. Rihaku’s sake is made by Izumo toji (出雲杜氏). A toji (master brewer) is the person in charge of making sake.
Some of Rihaku’s products have names taken from Izumo mythology. “Yamata no Orochi (やまたのおろち)” is the name of a product series taken from the myth in which Susanoo defeats a giant serpent with eight heads by making it drink strong sake.
Rihaku’s rice and water
Rihaku Sake Brewing makes all of its products with “shuzo kotekimai (酒造好適米)”, rice varieties suited to sake brewing. At the center are “Gohyakumangoku (五百万石)” and “Kan no Mai (神の舞)” grown in the Okuizumo (奥出雲) area of Shimane Prefecture, and it also uses rice such as “Yamada Nishiki (山田錦)” from Hyogo Prefecture. Most of the brown rice it buys is polished inside the brewery. For brewing, it uses soft water drawn from a deep well near the brewery.
The brewery aims for sake with umami and a clean finish that tastes good with meals. Here are three different types from the brewery’s products. Prices are the tax-included prices on the brewery’s product pages (720 ml, without a box) (checked on October 6, 2026).
- Rihaku Junmai Ginjo Wandering Poet (李白 純米吟醸 WANDERING POET) — A “junmai ginjo” made only from rice, rice koji and water, with 40% or more of the outside of the rice polished away and fermented slowly at low temperatures. The sake rice is Yamada Nishiki. The brewery places it as “the sake that represents Rihaku”, and the product name “Wandering Poet” means a poet who travels from place to place. 1,870 yen
- Rihaku tokubetsu junmai-shu (李白 特別純米酒) — A “tokubetsu junmai-shu” made only from rice, rice koji and water, with 40% or more of the outside of the rice polished away. It uses shuzo kotekimai from Shimane Prefecture. A long-running product of the brewery that was sold as “first-grade” junmai-shu (一級純米酒) when sake had the former grade classification system. 1,760 yen
- Rihaku junmai daiginjo (李白 純米大吟醸) — A “junmai daiginjo” made only from rice, rice koji and water, with more than half of the outside of the rice polished away. The sake rice is Yamada Nishiki, and it is fermented at low temperatures over a long period. 3,630 yen
Rihaku has many products, and the ingredients and brewing methods differ from product to product. Please check the label for the type.
The English official website also lists a tokubetsu junmai-shu called “Dreamy Clouds”. The product list on the Japanese official website has no product with this name (checked on October 6, 2026).
Visiting the brewery
No brewery tours
Rihaku Sake Brewing does not offer brewery tours (checked on October 6, 2026). If you visit the brewery, go to the tasting corner below.
Rihaku tasting corner (free tasting and brewery sales)
At this corner attached to the brewery, you can taste Rihaku’s sake for free and buy it. The tasting is a small amount to help you choose which sake to buy, and about 10 kinds are available. There is parking.
| Rihaku tasting corner (checked on October 6, 2026) | |
|---|---|
| Address | 島根県松江市石橋町335 (attached to Rihaku Sake Brewing) Open in Google Maps |
| Opening hours | Monday to Friday 8:30–18:00; Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays 10:00–17:00 |
| Closed | January 1–3 (sometimes closed on other days) |
| Tasting | Free (about 10 kinds) |
| Phone | 090-9733-8539 (tasting corner only) |
| Note | Sake is not sold to people under 20 |
If you are driving a car, please do not take part in tasting. In Japan, drinking and driving is prohibited by law.
Brewery open day in spring
The brewery holds a “brewery open day (kura-biraki)”, an event that opens the brewery to the public, in April (April 12 in 2025, April 11 in 2026). Admission is free. Parts of the brewery that are usually closed are opened, and limited sake is sold and tasting is offered for a fee. For 2026, a shuttle bus from Matsue Station to the venue was announced. Please check the announcements on the brewery’s official website for the next dates.
Getting there
- Bus: From bus stop No. 2 at JR Matsue Station, take a city bus on the 川津 line bound for “島根大学・川津 (Shimane University / 川津)” and get off at “石橋町 (Ishibashi-cho)”. The ride takes about 15–20 minutes (October 2026 timetable). The brewery is about a 3-minute walk from the bus stop. Please check the times in the timetable of Matsue City Transportation Bureau. It is also a good idea to check the last bus back in advance
- On foot: About 10–15 minutes from Shiomi Nawate
- By car: About 5–10 minutes from Matsue Station. You can park at the brewery’s parking lot
The walking and driving times are the brewery’s guide (checked on October 6, 2026).
Opening days and tour arrangements may change. Please check the brewery’s official information before visiting.
Where to buy Rihaku Sake Brewing’s sake
To buy at the brewery, go to the Rihaku tasting corner. The brewery also has an official online store.
Stores that sell Rihaku
The brewery publishes a list of stockists on its official website. The list includes 103 stores in 19 prefectures from Hokkaido to Okinawa, 24 of them in Matsue (checked on October 6, 2026). From the list, we have chosen stores that are easy to drop in at during a trip and whose business we could confirm on the store’s website.
| Area | Store | Address | Store / facility website |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matsue, near Matsue Castle | 島根県物産観光館 | 島根県松江市殿町191 Open in Google Maps | 島根県物産観光館 |
| Matsue | 槇戸天狗堂 | 島根県松江市東奥谷町373 Open in Google Maps | 槇戸天狗堂 |
| Tokyo, Yurakucho | 日比谷しまね館 | 東京都千代田区有楽町1-2-2 日比谷シャンテ 地下1階 Open in Google Maps | 日比谷しまね館 |
| Osaka, Umeda | 阪急うめだ本店（酒売り場） | 大阪府大阪市北区角田町8-7 Open in Google Maps | 阪急うめだ本店 |
| Osaka, Umeda | 阪神梅田本店（酒売り場） | 大阪府大阪市北区梅田1-13-13 Open in Google Maps | 阪神梅田本店 |
| Hiroshima | 大和屋酒舗 | 広島県広島市中区胡町4-3 Open in Google Maps | 大和屋酒舗 |
| Fukuoka, Tenjin | 大丸 福岡天神店 | 福岡県福岡市中央区天神1-4-1 Open in Google Maps | 大丸福岡天神店 |
For other stores and each store’s phone number, please check the list. 一畑百貨店 松江店, which appears on the list, closed on January 14, 2024.
Before you buy
- The products a store carries and its stock differ from store to store. Limited and seasonal products may not arrive, so please check with the store before visiting.
- The brewery’s list also includes stores that carry only hon-mirin (true mirin, 本みりん).
- 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 Shimane Prefecture are listed on the Shimane page.
Brewery facts
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Brewery | 李白酒造有限会社 (RIHAKU Sake Brewing Company) |
| Founded | 1882 (the 15th year of the Meiji era) |
| Representative | President and Representative Director 田中裕一郎 |
| Address | 〒690-0881 島根県松江市石橋町335 Open in Google Maps |
| Phone | 0852-26-5555 (fax 0852-26-5557) |
| Main brand | Rihaku (李白) |
| Rice | Shuzo kotekimai only (Gohyakumangoku, Kan no Mai, Yamada Nishiki and others) |
| Brewing water | Water from a deep well near the brewery |
| Official website | https://rihaku.co.jp/ |
| Brewery tours | Not available |
| Brewery shop | Rihaku tasting corner (free tasting and sales) |
| List of stockists | Published on the official website (103 stores; checked on October 6, 2026) |
| English support | English official website available (https://sake-rihaku.com/ ) |