Collection: Masumi

The Miyasaka brewery, producer of Masumi sake, was founded by the Miyasaka family, who trace their roots to a long line of warriors and hail from the Nagano region—more specifically, the city of Suwa. During the Warring States period (16th century), the Miyasaka family served the Suwa clan, an ally of the powerful daimyo* Takeda Shingen, one of Oda Nobunaga’s greatest rivals. But, weary of fighting, its members decided to venture into sake production in 1662, at the beginning of the Edo period. For many years, their sake was intended for the Suwa Taisha Shinto shrine. The name Masumi, which can be translated as “transparency” or “truth,” was given in homage to the mirror of the same name kept at the shrine. The Miyasaka brewery faced difficulties at the start of the Meiji era (1868–1912), a period when competition became fierce. In fact, there were more than 16,000 sake producers at the time. The company then branched out into other related businesses in order to survive. It was during the Taisho period (1912–1926) that the Miyasaka family decided to refocus its activities and concentrate on innovative, high-quality sakes. Thus, in 1920, Masaru Miyasaka, the family heir, hired Chisato Kubota, a toji in his twenties, with whom he traveled across Japan from north to south to study the regional characteristics and best sake-making techniques. In 1946, as the country lay in ruins and sake breweries had suffered heavy material and human losses, the National Brewing Research Institute recognized Masumi’s yeast as the national yeast. It became Yeast No. 7, which was quickly adopted and distributed throughout Japan to revive the sake industry. Even today, it remains one of the most widely used yeasts. Subsequently, Kazuhiro Miyasaka succeeded his father and helped Masumi become one of the most popular sakes on the peninsula, despite the general decline of sake in Japan.