東京都

Tokyo

The former Brewing Experiment Station's First Factory in Takinogawa, Kita Ward. A gabled red-brick building stands behind a brick wall bearing a plaque that names it an Important Cultural Property, with cherry blossoms on the left — The former Brewing Research Institute No. 1 Factory, still standing in Takinogawa, Kita Ward. This brick factory was built in the Meiji era for research into sake, and it is a national Important Cultural Property.柏木村民／ CC0 1.0 ／ Wikimedia Commons（resized to 1280 px on the long side）

Sake in Tokyo

Tokyo is the capital of Japan, in the Kanto region of Honshu. The Tokyo Sake Brewers Association's list of brewery owners includes 1 sake brewing company in the 23 wards and 9 in the Tama area (as of October 2026). The breweries in the Tama area are in the cities of Ome, Fussa, Akiruno, Hachioji, Higashimurayama and Fuchu.

In the Edo period, the people of Edo (present-day Tokyo) drank large amounts of sake made in the Kansai region. In 1790, the shogunate gathered 11 leading sake brewers of Edo to discuss making high-quality sake, lent them 14,700 koku (about 2,205 tonnes) of rice from its own stores, and had them brew 30,000 casks of sake from well-polished rice. The sake made this way was sold directly to the people of Edo under a sign reading “御免関東上酒売捌所” (an officially licensed shop selling fine Kanto sake), and from around this time the Edo sake industry grew further.

In 1904, the national research facility known as the Brewing Research Institute was set up in what is now Kita Ward, Tokyo, to improve the techniques and quality of sake brewing. From 1911 the institute held the Zenkoku Shinshu Kanpyokai (National New Sake Competition), which compares the sake made that year. The institute moved to Higashihiroshima City in Hiroshima Prefecture in 1995, and since 2001 it has been the National Research Institute of Brewing. The brick building used as its brewing factory from the start still stands in Takinogawa, Kita Ward, and in December 2014 it was designated a national Important Cultural Property as the “Former Brewing Research Institute No. 1 Factory.”

Brewery map

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

Ozawa Shuzo 小澤酒造Ome
Tamura Shuzojo 田村酒造場Fussa
Toshimaya Shuzo 豊島屋酒造Higashimurayama

The 11 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

Toshimaya Shuzo 豊島屋酒造Okunokami 屋守 / 金婚HigashimurayamaRead the article
Ozawa Shuzo 小澤酒造Sawanoi 澤乃井Ome
Tamura Shuzojo 田村酒造場Kasen 嘉泉Fussa