Imazato Sake Brewery

A Hasami Sake Brewery Founded in 1772

Imazato Sake Brewery (今里酒造, Imazato Shuzō) is a sake brewery in Shukugō, Hasami Town, Nagasaki Prefecture, founded in 1772, whose store and residence, Honkura, Nakagura, Shingura, washing area and product storage area, built between the late Edo period and the early Shōwa period, were registered together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 2 March 2006.

Nagasaki Prefecture's cultural property database says the family is believed to have started brewing in the Meiwa era (1764 to 1772) and traded under the house name 上酒屋, "the upper sake shop". The company itself gives 1772 as its founding year. Its label, Rokujūyoshū (六十餘洲), is an old way of saying "the whole country", from the days when Japan was counted as some sixty provinces; the name was chosen in the hope that people everywhere would drink it. Imazato Brewery Co., Ltd. still makes sake on the same ground.

Over two and a half centuries the brewery grew by addition rather than replacement, and the compound now holds more than ten buildings, six of them on the national register as Registered Tangible Cultural Property listings. A fire swept through Shukugō in 1879. The Imazato buildings escaped it, which is why Edo-period brewhouses still stand here.

How the Six Buildings at Imazato Sake Brewery Fit Together

The Imazato Sake Brewery site runs a long way north to south along the right bank of the Kawatana River, with its southern edge on the old road once called the Kami-Hasami village highway. Read together, the Agency for Cultural Affairs descriptions place the six registered buildings like this.

• Store and Residence: the front building, facing south onto the old road. Late Edo period, two storeys, timber, 442 square metres
• Honkura: the main brewhouse, set against the north end of the store's earthen-floored passage. Late Edo period, two storeys, timber, 283 square metres
• Nakagura: the middle brewhouse, standing parallel to the west of the Honkura. Late Edo period, two storeys, timber, 319 square metres
• Shingura: the new brewhouse, joined to the west side of the Nakagura and the largest of the six. Early Shōwa period, two storeys, timber, 491 square metres
• Washing Area: a single-storey shed north of the Honkura and Nakagura, roofed in sheet iron. Early Shōwa period, 266 square metres
• Product Storage Area: a small two-storey building tucked against the south gable of the Nakagura and the east wall of the Shingura. Taishō era, 95 square metres

Walk the plan from the street inward and the dates move forward: shopfront first, then the Edo brewhouses, then the Taishō and Shōwa additions. The north end of the store's Doma doubles as the Kuramae of the Honkura, so the counter where sake was sold and the hall where it was brewed form one continuous route. The prefectural database judges the Honkura to be the oldest surviving building and the Shingura the largest.

The six carry consecutive registration numbers, 42-0050 to 42-0055. The store and residence was registered for being a model of form; the other five for contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The Shingura's address is lot 641 Shukugō rather than lot 596, but the building itself adjoins the Nakagura.

A note on names: the Agency reads 本蔵 as Honkura, while the prefectural database gives Motogura. This site follows the Agency.

Visiting Imazato Sake Brewery and Getting There

Imazato Sake Brewery is a working brewery with no visitor desk and no regular tours. All six buildings are in use, and none of the interiors is open to the public. The one time the grounds open is the Rokujūyoshū kurabiraki, a two-day open house each April.

In 2026 it ran on 18 and 19 April, a Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days. Entry was free and the event went ahead in rain. There was parking, plus a free shuttle bus from JR Kawatana Station, and the programme included limited-release sake such as freshly pressed nama-zake, free tasting and a mochi-maki rice-cake scatter. Drivers are asked not to drink. As of 6 October 2026 the 2027 dates had not been announced; they appear on the "kura news" page of the company website, which is worth checking before you plan a trip.

On other days, what you can see is the street front of the store and residence from the old road. The company publishes no guidance on photography, so if you are inside the grounds on open-house day, ask a member of staff before photographing. Enquiries go to Imazato Brewery Co., Ltd. on 0956-85-2002.

Hasami has no railway station. According to the town's access guide, JR Kawatana Station on the Ōmura Line is about 1 hour 25 minutes from Nagasaki Station, and the bus from Kawatana to Hasami takes about 20 minutes. Since 1 April 2025 that route has been run by the two towns as the Kawatana-Hasami Town Bus; the adult fare from Kawatana Bus Center to the central stops of Hasami Yakuba-mae and Shuku is 520 to 530 yen. The prefectural database's directions, 3 minutes on foot from the Hasami-cho Yakuba-mae stop, date from when Saihi Bus ran the line.

From JR Arita Station on the Sasebo Line, a taxi takes about 10 minutes, and the reservation-only Arita-Hasami shared taxi makes 8 runs a day (suspended during the Hasami pottery fair). By car, the town is about 5 minutes from the Hasami-Arita interchange on the Takeo-Sasebo Road, where highway buses from Fukuoka and Nagasaki also stop.