15
A new experience on Intrepid's Japan: Land of the Rising Sun tour lets guests visit a centuries-old brewery in Hagi to learn from one of the country's masters of sake.
The first sake I tried came in a small vase and I tried drinking from it, much to the amusement of my Japanese friends. “You have to wait for the cup first!” she giggled. Two small cups followed and the staff apologized for forgetting to get them. Aside from the small drinkware, my first impression of sake is that it is light, slightly sweet, and easy to drink.
That was nearly ten years ago. From then on, as a person living in JapanI tasted countless sakes, developed preferences, and even had the ability to differentiate between several brands. Some taste drier. Others are known for their sweeter flavor. An example of this type is Yachiyo Shuzo in Yamaguchi Prefecture, led by Kumiko Kaba, one of the few female sake brewers in Japan. Spurred by centuries of family lineage, she's taking this ancient drink firmly into the modern era as a visitor to the Intrepid Japan: Land of the Rising Sun As part of a new experience for 2026, tours can now unravel the mystery when they visit Kaaba Brewery.
Read more: How Japan's dogs help in disaster zones
Trailblazer in the family
Sake is Japanese rice wine made from polished rice fermented for several weeks. Its origins are like that of sake: a drink dedicated to the gods, an offering from Japan's animistic Shinto religion. The first mention of sake dates back thousands of years, appearing in a 3rd century Chinese document describing Japanese mourning practices. Kaba grew up with the drink, growing up near Yachiyo Shuzo (八千yoshuzo), the brewery her family founded in 1887.
When I spoke to Kaba, she was at her brewery in Hagi, a castle town in Yamaguchi Prefecture. She told me she was the eldest of three sisters, although it was actually her middle sister who was originally targeted at taking over the brewery from her father. Kaba instead trained as a nutritionist, moving to Tokyo at 18 to study and work in schools and hospitals. But when the middle sister drops out of school due to a change of heart, Kaba steps in and takes charge of the family business.
But even when she wasn't around, she never forgot her roots: “When I was in Tokyo, I would go to sake tastings and there was always a bottle of nigori (sake) in the refrigerator.” In her 20s, she began to notice a large number of breweries closing because no one was taking over. “I couldn’t let the family brewery end with our generation. Since sake is Japan’s national drink, I felt a responsibility. I wanted to do something about it.
In 2017, she moved back to Hagi City, and in 2019, at the age of 35, she took over Yachiyo Shuzo. But instead of training as a master sake brewer at the family brewery, Kaba took an unprecedented step. “If I had learned the technique at Yachiyo Shuzo, nothing would have changed,” she recalls. “I wanted to bring something new to the company.” Instead, she trained at another nearby brewery, Sumikawa Shuzo, which serves as an informal incubator for aspiring sake brewers.
“It’s rare for a brewery to train people who are essentially going to be its competitors,” Kaba reflects.
Read more: Celebrating women's travels and experiences
From prohibition to progress
Although women have historically been an integral part of the sake brewing process, by the Edo period (1603-1868) they were prohibited from setting foot in sake breweries. This boils down to a theory that the brewery god is a woman who becomes jealous if other women step onto her territory.
In the 1990s, the number of female winemakers increased due to a lack of male winemakers. However, it was only in the past few decades that sake brewing and the title “Toji” became accepted by women. To date, of the more than 1,000 breweries in Japan, only 33 have women registered as toji. With such a small proportion, peer support is necessary.
The Kurajo Sei Summit is a group of female sake brewers that meets annually. Kaba is a member and the organization discusses industry challenges, latest trends, exchanges of skills and arranges visits to each other's breweries. “It’s helpful to see what other people are doing and I might see something at another brewery that I could use in my brewery,” Kaba said. She has made a lot of connections. “It’s nice to have someone to talk to.”
Kaba used her rare status as a female toji to bring a new way of thinking about sake to her kura (brewery), starting by diving full-time into creating Room, her first sake series. It has since become a firm favorite, with leading sake review sites like Sakenomy and Saketime praising its mellow sweetness and aroma. What's the secret to her success? Kaba was involved from conception to completion, carefully considering aspects of the design related to when and where she wanted people to drink her sake.
“Instead of stopping at taste and processing, I thought about the philosophy of 'Who would drink this where?'” Kaba recalls. She began to share a new way of thinking, brewing sake to accompany specific moments of everyday relaxation, such as when eating with friends, or on a Friday night after get off work. She conveyed this through a minimalist label design that differed from the typical sophisticated sake labels.
In 2023, she expanded on this in Dear, designed to be given as a gift. Here's the detail: It's packaged in a round gift box, like whiskey (rarely seen in the sake world), and the red tissue paper on top of the bottle can be arranged to resemble a rose. Dear comes from her idea of “cheering with special people on special occasions, with special wine”.
Read more: An unmissable food and wine experience
Enjoy sake from start to finish
Kaba recommends enjoying Room and Dear on the rocks with someone close or slightly warm to you. “I also love it with blue cheese,” she laughs. Blue cheese and sake have something in common: they are both fermented. “I think they really complement each other.”
Kaba loves to host brewery tours. When she's not around, her elderly mother takes the lead – a mother-daughter relationship. Travelers are often surprised by the vibrant, bubbling liquid in the barrel, a sign of healthy fermentation. “Another unexpected aspect is the Kula itself. Its ancient wooden structure is very impressive,” she said.
The brewery is located in the countryside of Yamaguchi Prefecture, surrounded by rolling rice fields, and tours give you the chance to experience the entire sake brewing process. “Visitors can cycle around the rice fields where sake rice is grown and then come to the brewery for an inside tour. This means you can experience the sake brewing process from start to finish.”
After visiting the brewery, there's no better time than drinking sake to truly appreciate the craft of brewing this drink, which has evolved over thousands of years. So what is the best sake in Japan? Well, while sake is becoming increasingly popular abroad, Kaba revealed that there is one kind of sake that is rarely exported: raw sake. Raw sake is fresh, unpasteurized sake. “This kind of sake is not really available overseas,” she said, “so I hope tourists can drink draft sake when they are in Japan.”
Taste sake at Yachiyo Shuzo Brewery as part of Intrepid's new experience Japan: Land of the Rising Sun travel.
