Who will enjoy this brewery
- People who want to stop at a sake brewery in an old post town on a trip from Tokyo toward Yamanashi and Nagano
- People who want to taste sake at the counter of the brewery shop before choosing what to buy
- People who want a guided look at the brewery’s historic buildings, such as the room where Emperor Meiji stayed (booking required)
- People interested in sparkling sake made by fermenting it in the bottle
General tours of the sake-making facility are not published as available (checked on September 30, 2026).
About Yamanashi Meijo
Yamanashi Meijo (山梨銘醸) is a sake brewery in Daigahara, Hakushu (白州町台ヶ原), in Hokuto (北杜市), Yamanashi Prefecture. Its brand is “Shichiken (七賢)”. It was founded in 1750 and became a joint-stock company in 1925.
The brewery has a shop, “Onakaya (酒処 大中屋)”, where you can buy sake and also taste it at the counter. The “Anzaisho (行在所)”, the room where Emperor Meiji stayed, and the “Denso-gura (伝奏蔵)”, which displays works of art and documents handed down in the Kitahara family, can be visited on guided tours that require booking. General tours of the sake-making facility are not published as available (checked on September 30, 2026).
At the Zenkoku Shinshu Kanpyokai (National New Sake Competition) for the Reiwa 7 brewing year (organized by the National Research Institute of Brewing and the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association), Yamanashi Meijo’s “Shichiken” was selected as a prize-winning sake.
Daigahara, a post town on the Koshu Kaido
Daigahara-juku (台ヶ原宿) is a town that thrived in the Edo period as a post town on the Koshu Kaido (甲州街道) highway. Old houses and storehouses are still scattered around Daigahara-juku today, along with a sake brewery and a Japanese confectionery shop. The old Koshu Kaido in Daigahara was chosen as one of the “100 Selected Roads of Japan” in 1986.
Yamanashi Meijo began in 1750. Ihee Kitahara (北原伊兵衛), from a branch of the Kitahara family that had brewed sake for generations in Takato (高遠), Shinshu, fell in love with the water of Hakushu (白州) and began making sake here in Daigahara.
The brand name “Shichiken” comes from a 欄間 (a carved panel set above the partition between rooms) presented as a congratulatory gift by 内藤駿河守, the lord of Takato Castle, when the main house was completed in 1835. The subject of the 欄間 is the “Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove”. The 欄間 still remains in the main house today.
In 1880, when Emperor Meiji toured Yamanashi Prefecture and other areas, the inner room of this main house became his lodging, the “Anzaisho”. The Anzaisho is a Yamanashi Prefecture Designated Tangible Cultural Property (building).
The underground water of Mt. Kaikoma and the rice of Hokuto
From the brewery you can look up at Mt. Kaikoma (甲斐駒ヶ岳) in the Southern Alps. Yamanashi Meijo uses the underground water of Mt. Kaikoma (water that flows below the ground) as its brewing water. The brewing water is water that springs up inside the brewing building, used just as it is.
The brewery’s stated philosophy is expressed in these words:
“Sake that can embody the water of our home, Hakushu”
「地元白州の水を体現できる酒」
— From “About water” (水について) on Yamanashi Meijo’s official website
The brewery mainly uses rice grown in Hokuto, which shares the same water source. In 1999 it set up the agricultural corporation “Onakaya” (大中屋), and it grows sake rice (rice suited to making sake) together with local farmers. The sake rice grown with local farmers includes “Yumesansui (夢山水)” and “Hitogokochi (ひとごこち)”.
Shichiken’s sake
In 1982, Yamanashi Meijo stopped making “futsu-shu”, sake that does not meet the conditions for a special designation (tokutei meisho), and switched all of its products to special designation sake (sake that meets conditions on ingredients and on how much of the outer part of the rice is polished away).
Here are three different types from its standard products (checked on September 30, 2026).
- 天鵞絨の味 (Birodonoaji) — A “junmai ginjo”: made only from rice, rice koji and water, with 40% or more of the outer part of the rice polished away, and fermented slowly at a low temperature. The sake rice is Yumesansui.
- 絹の味 (Kinunoaji) — A “junmai daiginjo”: made only from rice, rice koji and water, with more than half of the outer part of the rice polished away. The sake rice is Yumesansui.
- 風凛美山 (Furinbizan) — A “junmai-shu”, made only from rice, rice koji and water. The sake rice is Hitogokochi and あさひの夢.
Yamanashi Meijo also makes sparkling sake. It uses a method called “secondary fermentation in the bottle” (瓶内二次発酵), in which the sake ferments again in the bottle after bottling, creating bubbles. It released “Yama no Kasumi (山ノ霞)” in 2015, then added “Hoshi no Kagayaki (星ノ輝)” in 2016 and “Mori no Kanade (杜ノ奏)” in 2017. Yama no Kasumi is a lightly cloudy (“うすにごり”) sparkling sake.
Visiting the brewery
What the brewery accepts is tasting and buying at the shop, visits to the historic buildings, and paid tours. General tours of the sake-making facility are not published as available (checked on September 30, 2026).
Onakaya (shop and tasting)
This is the brewery’s shop. You can taste sake at the counter before choosing what to buy. It also sells products available only at the brewery, such as the “七賢人シリーズ” series of namazake (unpasteurized sake) that has not been heat-treated (pasteurized).
| Onakaya (checked on September 30, 2026) | |
|---|---|
| Opening hours | 9:00–17:00 (tasting until 16:30) |
| Closed | December 31 to January 3 |
Visiting the Anzaisho and Denso-gura
A guide takes you around the Anzaisho, where Emperor Meiji stayed, and the Denso-gura, which displays works of art and documents handed down in the Kitahara family. The exhibits in the Denso-gura change every 3 months.
| Anzaisho and Denso-gura (checked on September 30, 2026) | |
|---|---|
| Start times | Anzaisho 10:30 / 13:30 / 14:30; Denso-gura 10:00 / 11:00 / 14:00 / 15:00 |
| Price | 300 yen per facility (junior high school age and up). Free for elementary school age and under |
| Booking | Required. Please book by 16:00 the day before |
| Closed | December 31 to January 3 |
The 七賢物語 tour
A paid tour that includes a sake tasting and visits the brewery, the Anzaisho, the shochu storehouse and more. It is scheduled for the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month, from 13:30, and takes about 2 hours. The price is 7,000 yen per person (tax included), and booking is required by the 15th of the previous month. The contents may change depending on the season. Guidance in English is not published (checked on September 30, 2026).
Food and lodging
- Restaurant Daimin (臺眠): A restaurant run by the brewery, serving dishes that make use of the fermentation skills of sake making. Lunch is 11:30–14:30 on weekdays and 11:30–15:00 on weekends and public holidays. Only the 11:30 seating can be booked. It is closed on Tuesdays (the next day if Tuesday is a public holiday) and from December 28 to January 3. Dinner service is suspended (checked on September 30, 2026). The phone number is 0551-35-5111
- 宿場 esoto: A private rental house opened by the brewery in June 2026, for one group per day, up to 4 people. As an experience for guests (applied for separately), there is a visit to the brewing site. Book through the inn’s official website
Getting there
Address: 〒408-0312 山梨県北杜市白州町台ヶ原2283
- By car: About 20 minutes from Kobuchizawa (小淵沢) IC on the Chuo Expressway (an estimate checked on September 30, 2026). There is a parking lot. The driver should not taste the sake
Opening days and tour arrangements may change. Please check the brewery’s official information before visiting.
Where to buy Yamanashi Meijo’s sake
To buy at the brewery, go to the shop “Onakaya”. For opening hours, see “Visiting the brewery”.
At the official online store, you can choose to pick up your order at the brewery shop. Orders can be collected from 2 business days after the order date, and payment is made at the shop by cash or credit card. Orders are held, as a rule, for 1 month. Delivery is by Yu-Pack, and the shipping fee table lists only regions within Japan (checked on September 30, 2026).
The brewery does not publish a list of stockists in Japan on its official website (checked on September 30, 2026).
Overseas, the brewery publishes its importers on its official website. It lists importers in the United States and Canada; 12 countries in Europe, including Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy; countries and regions in Asia, including South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore; and Australia.
Before you buy
- Shichiken has many products, and the ingredients and brewing methods differ from product to product. Please check the label for the type.
- Keep namazake labeled “要冷蔵” (keep refrigerated) cold while you carry it.
- 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
Brewery facts
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Brewery | 山梨銘醸株式会社 (Yamanashi Meijo Co., Ltd.) |
| Founded | 1750 (the 3rd year of the Kan’en era). Incorporated on November 26, 1925 |
| Representative | Chairman and Representative Director 北原兵庫 / President and Representative Director 北原対馬 |
| Address | 〒408-0312 山梨県北杜市白州町台ヶ原2283 Open in Google Maps |
| Phone | 0551-35-2236 (main line) (fax 0551-35-2282) |
| Main brand | Shichiken (七賢) |
| Brewing water | Underground water of Mt. Kaikoma (water that springs up inside the brewing building) |
| Official website | https://www.sake-shichiken.co.jp/ (English version https://sake-shichiken.com/ ) |
| Brewery tours | General tours of the sake-making facility are not published as available. Visits to the Anzaisho and Denso-gura (booking required, paid) and the paid “七賢物語” tour are offered |
| Sales at the brewery | Onakaya (tasting available) |
| List of stockists | Not published for Japan. Overseas importers are listed on the official website (checked on September 30, 2026) |
| English support | The official website has an English version. English support for visits and tours is not published |