Ishikawa Brewery, established in 1863, is a brewery that preserves tradition while continuing to innovate.
On its premises, several historically significant buildings stand alongside a direct sales shop, a museum, a restaurant, and a guesthouse.
Just inside the nagayamon gate, a pair of large zelkova trees stand on the left—known as the "Meoto Keyaki" (Married Couple Zelkovas), they have become a beloved symbol of the community.
Up and coming Toji (Chief brewer)
The renowned sake “Tamajiman” carries the hope of becoming a source of pride for the Tama region.
In addition to brewing sake, Ishikawa Brewery revived the beer brewery in 1998 for the first time in 111 years.
Masako toji is also exploring sake brewing with table rice, not just sake rice, and are collaborating with Keio University to measure the activity of koji mold using MRI technology.
In 2025, they released a sake made with Tokyo-grown rice and water, using an original yeast developed in Tokyo.
Environmental Initiatives
At Ishikawa Brewery, locally grown wood from Tokyo is used in sake production as part of efforts to enrich the city's forests.
In the mountains owned by the Ishikawa family, kuromoji (Japanese spicebush) grows wild. Native to Japan, it is prized for its distinctive fragrance and used as an aromatic wood.
The brewery uses kuromoji as a supplementary ingredient in beer and also produces wood chips from thinned cedar trees to infuse them in aged sake, creating unique flavors.
Kuromoji beer is a seasonal.
Sake lees and beer lees, leftovers from the brewing process, are provided to a metropolitan high school as feed for pigs.
The pigs, raised by the students, are later used as ingredients at the on-site restaurant or processed into ham and bacon at a factory run by the brewery—forming a sustainable cycle.
While preserving tradition, Ishikawa Brewery continues to take on new challenges, providing visitors with a deeper understanding of the diverse allure of Japanese sake.