Nindoshu is a traditional botanical sweet sake (liqueur) infused with Japanese honeysuckle, crafted by the Kojima family in Inuyama since 1597—older than the Edo period itself. The recipe has never been written down. Protected by the Isshi Soden tradition, it has been spoken just once per generation to a single heir for over 400 years. Today, you can step inside the brewery where that tradition still lives.
Your visit begins with a guided tour of the kura (storehouse), a nationally registered historic building where the original equipment remains exactly where it was left. Your guide will show you the traditional ceramic jars once buried in the earthen floor—sunk into the ground so the earth itself held the temperature steady long before refrigeration existed—set against the stainless tanks used today.
After the tour, you will taste Nindoshu: thick, sweet, and deeply herbal, with a natural sweetness drawn entirely from the rice without any added sugar. You will also taste the brewery's fruit-infused variation.
The experience ends with a custom bottling session. You will choose your own words and brush them onto hand-written labels for two bottles. One bottle goes home with you today as a unique souvenir. The second stays in the cellar. When you return to Inuyama—whether next month or next year—it will be waiting to be poured, or the brewery can ship it to you in the future.
Inuyama is just 25–30 minutes from Nagoya by limited express on the Meitetsu Inuyama Line, making this an easy and natural half-day trip from the city. The brewery is a short walk from Meitetsu Inuyama Station and only a few minutes from Inuyama Castle, one of only twelve original wooden castle keeps surviving in Japan.
