桝一市村酒造場Masuichi Ichimura Shuzo

The character for "one" written inside a square is the brewery's mark. In Japanese, a masu is a wooden measuring box used for rice and sake; the character ichi means one. Together they spell Masuichi—the first of the measure, or the measure that is primary. The Ichimura family established this brewery in Obuse, Nagano, in 1755, and has been asking that question of itself ever since.

Obuse in the 1840s was a town that attracted artists. The most famous was Katsushika Hokusai, who arrived in his mid-eighties and spent several years there under the patronage of a local scholar and collector named Takai Kozan. Kozan was the twelfth head of the Ichimura family—the same family that ran Masuichi—and he brought Hokusai into a town where the brewery's sake was already well established. Whether Hokusai drank it is not recorded. That he was in the same small town, hosted by the same family, is.

The Ichimura family's other business is Obusedo, the chestnut confectionery shop that has become one of Nagano's landmarks. Obuse has long been a major chestnut-producing area, and the two businesses—sweet and fermented, autumn harvest and year-round craft—run alongside each other from the same family compound.

In 2000, the brewery revived wooden vat fermentation. The method had largely disappeared from the industry over the preceding decades, replaced by enamel-lined steel tanks that are easier to clean, easier to regulate, and less likely to introduce the wild microflora that live in old cedar wood. Masuichi brought it back anyway, first for junmai, then for junmai daiginjo, on the argument that the wood contributes character the steel cannot replicate. The sake made in wooden vats is sold exclusively at the brewery and through the brewery's own channels. It is not available through ordinary retail distribution.

The brewery makes its own kurabito—the craft brewers who live and work on-site during the brewing season—a residential part of the operation from November through March. The compound has grown to include an inn and several dining options that serve as a destination in a town that has always drawn visitors.

Key facts

• Founded 1755 in Obuse, Nagano Prefecture; operated by the Ichimura family continuously
• Twelfth-generation head Takai Kozan was patron and host to painter Katsushika Hokusai during Hokusai's extended stay in Obuse in the 1840s
• Wooden vat fermentation (kioke) revived in 2000 for junmai and junmai daiginjo; products brewed in wooden vats are sold exclusively at the brewery and through direct channels
• Brand name Masuichi (桝一): masu = wooden sake measuring box; ichi = one
• Also operates Obusedo, the chestnut confectionery business, reflecting Obuse's identity as a major chestnut-growing town
• Brewery compound includes an inn, dining, and tasting bar (Teppa); kurabito live on-site during the November–March brewing season