Hakutsuru Tōjisasa

Hakutsuru Tōjisasa (白鶴 杜氏酒々) is brewed with carefully selected ingredients and the skill of the master brewer (杜氏 Tōji). This authentic Nada sake is made in the Tamba-style brewing technique using Yamada-Nishiki from Hyogo and water from the Rokko mountains. The label design depicts four flowers: narcissus, camellia, cherry blossom and wisteria. The flowers blooming from winter to summer are depicted on the label, with the autumn flowers missing, continuing the design motif from when the sake was first launched.

Hakutsuru Brewery is located in the Nada area of Kobe, Hyōgo. Nada is blessed with underground water rich in minerals and great rice from the Rokkō mountains; it is one of the major sake areas in Japan. Hakutsuru (白鶴, "White Crane") was founded in 1743 by Kanō Jihei (嘉納 治兵衛), a lumber dealer who started using the iconic brand in 1747.

In the 19th century, the brewery expanded fast, opening its first store in Ōsaka in 1869. The brewery participated in the Paris World Exhibition of 1900, featuring its pre-packaged glass bottles displaying labels designed for the event. Until 1918, Hakutsuru expanded fast, opening branches in Dalian, Tsingtao, Tōkyō, and Kobe. In 1927, Showa Brewery (昭和酒造株式会社) was founded, and seven years later, the Hakutsuru Brewery Museum (白鶴美術館) was inaugurated.

During the final days of the war, 90 per cent of the brewery facilities were destroyed in air raids, and the company lost all its overseas assets. In 1947, the company was re-established under the name "Hakutsuru Sake Brewing Co. Ltd." (白鶴酒造株式会社). In 1982, the Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum (白鶴酒造資料館) was reopened in the old main storehouse on the compound of the brewery but relocated once again after the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. In the late 1990s, Hakutsuru established Hakutsuru Sake of America Inc. and registered a newly developed rice variety, "Hakutsuru Nishiki" (白鶴錦).

Today, Hakutsuru is one of the world's biggest and most thriving sake breweries.