Collection: Naka Shuzo | Tokushima Prefecture

Situated in the town of Naka at the foot of mountainous national parklands in south-eastern Tokushima, Naka Shuzo has been brewing sake since 1725. The brewery has been in the same family for 11 generations with Akihiro Matsuura now continuing the family’s sake brewing tradition with his wife and daughter.

Matsuura-san has been brewing sake for over 40 years, previously working alongside the Toji their family employed, until 1985 when he became the Toji himself. He does virtually every part of the sake brewing process by himself and has ingeniously built himself devices throughout the brewery to make this physically possible.

Matsuura-san grows rice organically in a small field near the brewery. This provides rice for roughly one quarter of his sake brewing needs each year, with other local rice growers supplying the remaining rice required. From the rice growing, to each facet of brewing, Matsuura-san is skilfully creating his sake to be rich in flavour and character.

The brewery is one of smallest sake producers in Japan, brewing only 3-4 small tanks of sake per season. The Asahi Wakamatsu range made by Naka Shuzo are some of the most sought after sake in Japan due to the quality and rarity of these amazing products.