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山口県

Yamaguchi

The Nishiki River flowing through Iwakuni. A stone-paved bank and a gravel riverbed lie in the foreground, and Iwakuni Castle stands on top of the green hill across the river, which is reflected in the water
The Nishiki River flowing through Iwakuni City. The keep of Iwakuni Castle can be seen on the mountain above the river.Zairon ／ CC BY 4.0 ／ Wikimedia Commons（resized to 1280 px on the long side）

Sake in Yamaguchi

Yamaguchi Prefecture lies at the western tip of Honshu. The Yamaguchi Sake Brewers Association has 24 members (as of April 1, 2026). The amount of sake made in the prefecture ranks 8th among Japan's prefectures (for the one year from July 2024 to June 2025). In the same year, the average rice polishing ratio (seimai buai: the share of the grain left after polishing) of the rice used for sake brewing in the prefecture was 34.1%, the lowest of any prefecture. On average, this means more than 60% of the outer part of the rice is polished away.

In March 2021, sake made in Hagi City and Abu Town in the north of the prefecture was designated as “Hagi” under the geographical indication (GI) system, which protects the names of sake-producing regions. It covers only this one city and one town, not the whole prefecture. Its condition is a lively taste with a full, refined umami from the rice and a refreshing acidity. Hagi faces the Sea of Japan to the north and is surrounded on its other three sides by mountains about 400 m high. Soft water, low in minerals, that has passed through layers of rock of volcanic origin is used for brewing.

The techniques of sake brewing in Hagi were brought by the “Otsu toji,” a group of toji (master brewers) based around Nagato City in the prefecture. In Hagi, since around 1990, brewery owners and local farmers have worked together to grow sake rice, and a cooperative funded by the brewery owners and farmers has set up a mill to polish the sake rice. As for rice, Yamaguchi Prefecture bred “Saito no Shizuku,” a rice variety suited to sake brewing (shuzo kotekimai), which was registered as a variety in 2008. It is a cross between “Kokuryomiyako” and “西海222号.”

Brewery map

Hagi: 7 breweriesIwakuni: 5 breweriesShunan: 5 breweriesShimonoseki: 5 breweriesYamaguchi: 4 breweriesAbu: 2 breweriesNagato: 2 breweriesUbe: 2 breweriesMine: 1 breweriesKudamatsu: 1 breweriesHofu: 1 breweriesSanyonoda: 1 breweriesHagiIwakuniShunanShimonosekiYamaguchi1. 旭酒造1

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

  1. Asahi Shuzo 旭酒造Iwakuni

The 36 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