The beginning is Funakoya

The history of Yoshika (Yatsushika) Sake Brewery began in 1864, at the end of the Edo period, with the first Touko Aso. The name at the time was “Funakoya,” and the storehouse with this name and trowel pictures still tells of its history. At that time, water availability was poor in Kokonoe, so he decided to build a well and save the villagers from starvation. However, irrigation work was difficult, and the work he had been working on together with his son, Toyosuke II, was set back many times due to a series of crises, including lack of funds, peasant uprisings, and natural disasters. Eventually, without agricultural water channel being able to do so, the Aso family sold their property, mountains, forests, and fields, and even gave up the right to brew sake.

~ Birth of sake Yatsushika~

In the 18th year of the Meiji era, Kanpachi, who was just 20 years old, and Shikataro Nakama, a 34-year-old master brewer, put their heart and soul into brewing the sake, which was named “Ryumon” after the famous local waterfall, Ryumon Falls. Ta. This sake gradually became popular, and Kanpachi changed the name to Yatsushika, taking one letter from his own name and one from Shikataro’s name in praise of their mutual spirit. Once his family’s sake brewing business took off, Kanpachi focused his efforts on public works “for the world and for people.” He completed the well route that his predecessors had not been able to accomplish, and began the big project of constructing the National Railway Kyudai Line. After more than 20 years of continuous efforts, in 1927, the Kyudai Line was completed in 1920. stations were opened. Kanpachi passed away the previous year at the age of 63. Although he was unable to see his long-cherished desire to see the railroad open, a bronze statue was erected by people who remember his legacy, and it still watches over Era Station and Yatsushika Sake Brewery.

~ after all the effort  ~

The fourth generation, Masuyoshi Aso, maintained a debt-free management system through sound management. Masuyoshi focused on researching pure yeast, and elevated “Yatsushika” to the status of a famous sake, receiving awards for excellence one after another at the National Liquor and Soy Sauce Competition. After the war, the fifth generation of the Aso family to take over the sake brewing business was Taichi Aso, who aspired to become a medical doctor. He built a manufacturing cellar made of reinforced concrete, which had previously been unthinkable in the local sake brewing industry. This was the birth of Shomon Yatsushika,” a rare dry sake in Kyushu that is praised by sake connoisseurs as “an ordinary sake and a famous sake.” Furthermore, in 1968, the brewery completed a steel-framed “Eishakugura” with air-conditioning equipment that enabled brewing in all seasons, marking an achievement that could be called a revolution in the long history of Yatsushika.