Kitagawa Honke

The story

The Rice That Came Back

Iwai rice was gone. Not entirely, but close enough that most sake brewers in Japan had stopped working with it. It was a Kyoto sakamai variety, large-grained and known for producing rich, full-bodied sake, but it had fallen out of commercial cultivation somewhere in the mid-twentieth century as breweries moved toward rice varieties that were more reliable and more widely grown. In the 1980s, the Fushimi Sake Brewers Association and Kyoto Prefecture began a trial cultivation programme to bring it back. They found remaining seed stock, ran experimental paddies, refined the growing conditions, and slowly returned Iwai to viable commercial production. Kitagawa Honke adopted it for the Tomio export Junmai Ginjo. The bottle on the shelf today carries a rice that nearly did not survive, brought back by a regional association working plot by plot, season by season, until the grain was ready again.

The Rice That Came Back

Iwai rice was gone. Not entirely, but close enough that most sake brewers in Japan had stopped working with it. It was a Kyoto sakamai variety, large-grained and known for producing rich, full-bodied sake, but it had fallen out of commercial cultivation somewhere in the mid-twentieth century as breweries moved toward rice varieties that were more reliable and more widely grown. In the 1980s, the Fushimi Sake Brewers Association and Kyoto Prefecture began a trial cultivation programme to bring it back. They found remaining seed stock, ran experimental paddies, refined the growing conditions, and slowly returned Iwai to viable commercial production. Kitagawa Honke adopted it for the Tomio export Junmai Ginjo. The bottle on the shelf today carries a rice that nearly did not survive, brought back by a regional association working plot by plot, season by season, until the grain was ready again.

From the atlas

Kitagawa Honke

At A Glance

The Producer

Kitagawa Honke has been making sake in Fushimi, Kyoto, since 1657. Fourteen generations of the Kitagawa family have worked from the same district, drawing on the same underground water source, accumulating 21 gold medals at Japan's National New Sake Awards along the way. The brewery markets under the Tomio brand, and its export range is built around Iwai rice, a Kyoto sakamai variety that had nearly vanished before being brought back into cultivation through a collaboration between the Fushimi Sake Brewers Association and Kyoto Prefecture.

The current representative is Yukihiro Kitagawa. Head brewer Yoshifumi Tashima leads production. The brewery's stated philosophy, Preserving Tradition, Innovating for the Future, describes a position the record supports: continuous operation across three and a half centuries, combined with the deliberate choice to anchor the export range on a revived regional rice variety rather than a more widely grown sakamai.

Place

Fushimi sits at the southern edge of Kyoto City, where the Uji River and its tributaries run close to the surface and an underground aquifer of soft water has sustained the district's sake breweries for centuries. That water, registered under the name Fushimizu, is the defining physical asset of the district. Soft water carries fewer minerals and produces sake with a rounder, less assertive character than the hard water used in regions such as Nada. The Fushimi style is generally smoother in the glass, with less of the dry, firm edge that hard-water brewing tends to produce.

Fushimi is one of Japan's established sake-producing districts, alongside Nada in Hyogo, Fushimi's proximity to the old imperial capital giving it centuries of palace and temple demand that shaped its brewing culture early. Kitagawa Honke's address within the district puts it among breweries drawing from the same Fushimizu source, but the brewery's use of Iwai rice and its consistent award record set it apart within that shared geographic context.

Soil And Site

Kitagawa Honke is a brewery, not a rice farm. The physical site is the brewery building in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto City. The Fushimizu underground water source is the primary natural input that the brewery controls through location. Rice cultivation happens elsewhere, and the Iwai variety used in the export range was grown through trial cultivation programmes coordinated by Kyoto Prefecture and the Fushimi Sake Brewers Association. The connection between soil and sake at Kitagawa Honke runs through water quality and rice variety, not through estate-farmed paddies.

Story

The brewery was founded in 1657 during the Edo period in Fushimi, Kyoto. Fourteen generations of the Kitagawa family have kept operations in the same district across four centuries of Japanese history, including the Meiji industrialisation, two world wars, and the postwar restructuring of the Japanese food and drink economy.

The Fushimi Sake Brewers Association and Kyoto Prefecture revived Iwai rice through trial cultivation. Iwai is a Kyoto sakamai that had fallen out of commercial cultivation. The Fushimi Sake Brewers Association, working with Kyoto Prefecture's trial cultivation programme, brought it back. Kitagawa Honke placed it at the centre of its export Junmai Ginjo range. That choice links the brewery to a regional agricultural recovery project and gives the Tomio export line a rice variety specific to Kyoto and largely unavailable from breweries outside the prefecture.

Vineyards And Cellar

Production at Kitagawa Honke follows traditional sake-making methods with carefully selected ingredients, as confirmed by the brewery's participation in the Kyoto Sake Makers Association's export programme. The cellar uses Fushimizu soft water, which reduces mineral hardness in the brewing process and contributes to the smooth, rounded character associated with Fushimi sake.

The Tomio Iwai Junmai Ginjo is made from Iwai rice. Junmai Ginjo is a category defined by rice polishing to at least 60 percent of the original grain and fermentation without added distilled alcohol. The polishing removes outer layers of the grain, concentrating the starchy core and producing a more aromatic, cleaner ferment. Iwai rice, with its robust flavour profile, contributes a fuller body than many Ginjo-class sakes, which tend toward delicacy. The result sits at an intersection: Ginjo-category aromatic character with the weight and richness that Iwai delivers.

The Tomio Daiginjo Junmai Ginrei is polished further, to Daiginjo standard, and characterised by a gentler, more refined mouthfeel. Daiginjo polishing typically softens the grain's contribution, allowing fermentation character to come forward more cleanly.

Specific cellar methods beyond traditional techniques are not confirmed in available sources and are not asserted here.

Wines

Kitagawa Honke's export range covers two expressions under the Tomio label.

Tomio Iwai Junmai Ginjo is the primary export bottle. Made from Iwai sakamai rice, it is a Junmai Ginjo, meaning it is fermented without added alcohol and polished to Ginjo standard. Iwai rice carries a reputation for robust flavour and delivers a rich, full-bodied sake. In the context of the Junmai Ginjo category, this positions the Tomio Iwai as weightier and more textured than lighter, more aromatic expressions of the same classification. It is the bottle the brewery leads with outside Japan.

Tomio Daiginjo Junmai Ginrei is the premium expression. Daiginjo requires polishing to a higher degree than Ginjo, removing more of the outer grain and leaving a finer, more concentrated starchy core. The resulting sake is gentler and more delicate, with a refined mouthfeel that sits clearly apart from the density of the Iwai Junmai Ginjo. The Ginrei sits at the top of the export range.

The full domestic range extends beyond these two bottles but is not confirmed in sources used for this page.

In The Glass

The Tomio Iwai Junmai Ginjo opens with the aromatic register typical of Ginjo fermentation: fruity, clean, with the rice grain's character present but refined by polishing. On the palate, the Iwai rice announces itself as body and weight. Where many Ginjo-class sakes are light and dry, this bottle is fuller, with a mid-palate richness that the Iwai variety contributes directly. The Fushimizu soft water rounds rather than sharpens, keeping the texture smooth rather than firm. Finish carries the weight of the rice without heaviness.

The Tomio Daiginjo Junmai Ginrei moves in the opposite direction. Higher polishing produces a more delicate ferment, and the mouthfeel is gentle and refined. Less grain weight, more fermentation-derived character, a softer and more precise finish. The two bottles illustrate the polishing spectrum clearly: Iwai Junmai Ginjo for richness and body, Daiginjo Junmai Ginrei for delicacy and length.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Tomio Iwai Junmai Ginjo. It is made from Iwai rice, a Kyoto sakamai variety revived specifically within the Fushimi brewing community, and it carries the full body and richness that Iwai delivers. The soft Fushimizu water smooths the texture, so the weight of the rice comes through without any mineral edge. It is a full-bodied Junmai Ginjo, and it is the bottle where the brewery's geographic and agricultural character is most directly expressed. Rich, smooth, and with more presence in the glass than the category often suggests.

Anecdote

Iwai rice was gone. Not entirely, but close enough that most sake brewers in Japan had stopped working with it. It was a Kyoto sakamai variety, large-grained and known for producing rich, full-bodied sake, but it had fallen out of commercial cultivation somewhere in the mid-twentieth century as breweries moved toward rice varieties that were more reliable and more widely grown. In the 1980s, the Fushimi Sake Brewers Association and Kyoto Prefecture began a trial cultivation programme to bring it back. They found remaining seed stock, ran experimental paddies, refined the growing conditions, and slowly returned Iwai to viable commercial production. Kitagawa Honke adopted it for the Tomio export Junmai Ginjo. The bottle on the shelf today carries a rice that nearly did not survive, brought back by a regional association working plot by plot, season by season, until the grain was ready again.

Final Word

Kitagawa Honke has been in Fushimi since 1657, drawing from soft underground water and accumulating a record of consistent quality across fourteen family generations. The export range is small and deliberate: a full-bodied Junmai Ginjo from Iwai rice, a delicate Daiginjo Junmai Ginrei above it. The Iwai choice connects the brewery to a specific and locally significant agricultural recovery, and it gives the Tomio line a rice variety tied to Kyoto. Twenty-one gold medals at Japan's National New Sake Awards suggest the approach works.

Sources

• https://www.tomio-sake.co.jp/en/about/
• https://www.sakenomy.jp/en/brewery/K01N026002/
• https://kyoto-sake.sakura.ne.jp/en/europe_list.html
• https://www.tomio-sake.co.jp/en_products/sake20901/
• https://www.tomio-sake.co.jp/en_products/sake102/