What Sawanotsuru does

Sawanotsuru Co., Ltd. (founded 1717) is a privately held Japanese sake brewery headquartered in the Nada district of Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture—one of Japan's premier sake-producing regions. The company operates a vertically integrated business spanning sake brewing (junmai, ginjo, daiginjo, and aged sake), umeshu liqueurs, non-alcoholic beverages, sake lees food products, and accessories, supported by a museum (Sawanotsuru Museum) designated Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property by Hyogo Prefecture. Technically, Sawanotsuru combines traditional kimoto brewing methods (using naturally occurring lactic acid) inherited through the Tanba toji tradition with modern capabilities including a four-season brewery renovated in 2019 and drone-based rice field monitoring developed under a multi-year partnership with YANMAR; new proprietary sake rice varieties (OR2271) have been bred for use in the NADA88 and X-series product lines. The company holds FSSC22000 food-safety certification and has received sustained international recognition including consecutive Monde Selection Grand Golds for its flagship Junmai Daiginjo Zuicho since 2007.

Sawanotsuru's business model relies on a multi-channel go-to-market combining direct-to-consumer e-commerce (its own store plus Rakuten and Yahoo Shopping), physical retail through museum shops, supermarkets, convenience stores, liquor specialty stores, and food-service supply to restaurants and izakayas, with limited-edition and aged SKUs (e.g., 1991 vintage, 50-year aged Honzo) priced up to 36,300 yen driving premium-tier contribution. Pricing spans from everyday pure rice sake at 934 yen (900ml) to ultra-premium celebratory and gift-grade offerings. Headcount stands at 200 employees, of whom 122 hold official kiki-zakari (sake tasting) certification, reflecting unusually deep in-house domain expertise for the category. Distribution is restricted to the domestic Japanese market.

Name

Sawanotsuru

Legal name

沢の鶴株式会社

Website

https://sawanotsuru.co.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

1717

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Sawanotsuru is a 300-year-old family-controlled Japanese sake brewery headquartered in Kobe's Nada district, producing junmai, ginjo, daiginjo, aged sake, umeshu, and non-alcoholic beverages for domestic retail, e-commerce, and food-service customers, supported by an on-site heritage museum.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Japanese Sake (Seishu) Brewing

NAICS

Beverage Manufacturing (3121), Beer, Wine, and Liquor Retailers (4453)

SIC

Beverages (2080), Food And Kindred Products (2000)

akta.pro primary industry

Sake, Soju & Other Asian Alcoholic Beverages Producers & Brands (CRADAIAF)

Keywords

• Japanese sake brewing
• Pure rice sake
• Junmai daiginjo
• Plum liqueur umeshu
• Traditional kimoto brewing

Headquarters

HQ city

Ashiya

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Sake and Alcohol Products: Core revenue from production and sale of Japanese sake (pure rice, ginjo, daiginjo, aged sake), umeshu liqueurs, shochu, and non-alcoholic beverages. Products sold through owned e-commerce, marketplace platforms, retail stores, and museum shops.
2. Museum and Tourism: Revenue from Sawanotsuru Museum admission (free entry) and museum shop merchandise sales. The museum attracts approximately 40,000 visitors annually and serves as brand experience center.
3. Special Limited Products: Limited edition products sold at museum shops including exclusive aged sake and premium daiginjo offerings, creating scarcity-driven revenue opportunities.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Sawanotsuru is a 300-year-old sake brewery based in Kobe's Nada district that produces and sells a wide portfolio of Japanese sake (junmai, ginjo, daiginjo, aged koshu), plum liqueurs (umeshu), non-alcoholic beverages, and related food products such as sake lees and narazuke pickles. The company operates its own e-commerce storefront, marketplace storefronts on Rakuten and Yahoo Shopping, a company museum with retail shop, and distributes through restaurants and department stores.

Product overview

Sawanotsuru operates primarily as an e-commerce platform (sawanotsuru.co.jp) selling a wide portfolio of sake and alcoholic beverage products. The product range spans from premium pure junmai daiginjo and ginjo sakes (e.g., 純米大吟醸 瑞兆, 純米大吟醸 敏馬, 大吟醸 春秀) to accessible everyday pure junmai sakes (e.g., 米だけの酒, 特別純米酒 本格甘口 山田錦), supplemented by plum liqueurs (古酒仕込み梅酒, 古酒仕込み 紅茶梅酒, 純米古酒仕込み 大阪はちみつ梅酒), non-alcoholic beverages (Bavaria 0.0% beer, amazake), and food products (奈良漬, 酒粕). Specialty sub-brands include the award-winning X-series sake developed with Yanmar using proprietary sake rice varieties (X01, X02, X03), NADA88, the crowd-funded 100人のきき酒師 and たまには酔いたい夜もある, and the newly launched SUSTAINABLE CHALLENGE300. The company also operates the Sawanotsuru Museum (沢の鶴資料館), a company museum in a historic brewery building offering a retail shop, and sells sake cups and accessories. Products are also distributed through Rakuten and Yahoo! Shopping storefronts.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SHUSHU Light: アルコール度数8.5%の飲みやすい純米酒。爽酒タイプの軽快でなめらかな味わい。
• 米だけの酒
• 100人の唎酒師
• たまには酔いたい夜もある
• 整酒（トトノイサケ）
• 古酒仕込み紅茶梅酒
• 古酒仕込み梅酒
• NADA88
• サステナブルチャレンジ300
• 瑞兆（ずいちょう）
• 実楽（じつらく）
• 生酛造りのきもとさん
• 八継（はっけい）
• 乾蔵（いぬいぐら）
• 瑞宝蔵（ずいほうぐら）
• 大吟醸 春秀（しゅんしゅう）
• Kobe1717
• 大阪はちみつ梅酒
• X01
• X02
• X03
• 札幌大通はちみつ入り大吟醸あまざけ
• 寿海（じゅかい）
• 世界長（せかいちょう）
• 敏馬（みぬめ）

Products and services

• Junmai Daiginjo Zuicho (瑞兆)

Quantifiable outcome

• No.1 market share in pure rice sake category in Japan (Intage SRI)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor, flagship and core.

• Royal Swinkels (オランダ)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 April 2024Distribution partnership for non-alcoholic Bavaria beer products (Bavaria 0.0% Lemon, Grapefruit) in Japan. Royal Swinkels is Europe's oldest family-owned brewery (founded 1719). Sawanotsuru distributes their non-alcoholic flavored beer products using proprietary Bio Reactor technology.
• Hampstead Tea (富永貿易株式会社)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 September 2020Collaboration with London's first organic tea company to source 100% organic Darjeeling tea leaves for 古酒仕込み 紅茶梅酒 (Aged Sake Black Tea Umeshu). 富永貿易 (Tominaga Trading) handles import and quality control of organic tea from UK.
• Sapporo Odori High School (市立札幌大通高校)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Collaboration using honey from school's urban beekeeping project (都市養蜂) in partnership with YANMAR. Honey sourced from Sapporo campus used in 札幌大通はちみつ入り大吟醸あまざけ (Sapporo Odori Honey Amazake) as part of SDGs initiatives. School won Honey of the Year 2018 domestic division.
• YANMAR (ヤンマー)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2016Long-term strategic collaboration on sake rice (酒米) development project. YANMAR provides agricultural technology, remote sensing, and cultivation expertise while Sawanotsuru contributes brewing knowledge. Project has produced X01, X02, X03 sake brands and NADA88, with proprietary new rice varieties under development. Both companies share vision of revitalizing Japanese agriculture and sake culture.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Gekkeikan Sake: One of Japan's largest sake producers (est. 1637), headquartered in Kyoto with extensive international distribution including a US subsidiary. Compares to Sawanotsuru in heritage and product breadth, and represents the international expansion model Sawanotsuru has not yet pursued.
• Dassai / Asahi Shuzo: Producer of Dassai, the leading premium junmai daiginjo brand in Japan. Most direct head-to-head competitor in the premium pure rice daiginjo category where Sawanotsuru's Zuicho and Minume compete; similar heritage branding and award-winning positioning.
• Konishi Brewing (Hakushika): Long-established Nada district sake brewery (est. 1550) producing Hakushika brand sake, plum wine, and mirin. Comparable in traditional brewing heritage, Nada geographic roots, and similar mid-market premium positioning.
• Yoshida Shuzo (Tsuki no Katsura): Historic Kyoto sake brewery (est. 1675) known for premium junmai daiginjo and innovative brewing. Comparable in traditional craftsmanship, premium brand positioning, and selective product range rather than high-volume everyday sake.
• Hakkaisan Sake Brewery: Premium sake brewery from Niigata, known for junmai daiginjo and clean flavor profile. Comparable to Sawanotsuru in premium positioning, award recognition, and regional terroir-driven branding strategy.
• Ozeki Corporation: Major Japanese sake producer with broad portfolio from everyday to premium sake, plus umeshu and other beverages. Competes in the same supermarket/CVS everyday sake category where Sawanotsuru's 米だけの酒 holds the #1 pure rice position.
• Hakutsuru Sake Brewery: Nada district sake brewery (est. 1743) producing a wide range of junmai, ginjo, and daiginjo sake. Direct geographic peer in Kobe with overlapping product portfolio, distribution channels, and traditional brewing methods.

Regional players

• Takara Sake USA (Sho Chiku Bai): Subsidiary of Japan's Takara Holdings producing traditional sake, mirin, and shochu with the largest North American sake market presence. Comparable in product category and traditional brewing methods, but primarily serving the US market rather than competing domestically in Japan.

Others

• Royal Swinkels Family Brewers (Bavaria): Europe's oldest family-owned brewery (est. 1719), partner of Sawanotsuru for distribution of Bavaria 0.0% non-alcoholic beer in Japan. Comparable in multi-century family brewery heritage and provides a strategic partnership reference point for premium craft brewing.

Broad incumbents

• Kikkoman Corporation: Global soy sauce and seasoning giant with a sake and mirin subsidiary (Kikkoman Sake). Larger, publicly listed incumbent that competes in adjacent Japanese food/beverage categories with superior international distribution infrastructure.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/sawanotsuru1717
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC8cve34o0R7jX0MWblUHs8g
• Facebookfacebook.com/sawanotsuru
• Instagraminstagram.com/sawanotsuru
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sawanotsuru-co-ltd-

Compliance12 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sawanotsuru