The Sake Anatomy › Sake Brand Index › Hagino Tsuru
No.89 · Brewery Profile
Hagino Tsuru萩の鶴 · Hagino Shuzo 萩野酒造
The Sato family has run a brewery in the old post-town of Arikabe, Miyagi since 1840, having previously kept an inn on the Oshu Kaido highway. Their flagship Hagino Tsuru is elegant and gently sweet; its kimoto-brewed sister label Hiwata takes the opposite approach, built for richer, more assertive food pairing. Current head Sato Yohei runs the kura with his brother Yoshiyuki as toji.
Who makes Hagino Tsuru?
The Sato family has run Hagino Shuzo in the old post-town of Arikabe, Miyagi since 1840, having previously kept an inn on the Oshu Kaido highway. Current head Sato Yohei runs the kura with his brother Yoshiyuki as toji.
What does Hagino Tsuru taste like?
Tagged Elegant & Refined and Rich & Umami, Hagino Tsuru’s flagship Junmai Ginjo is elegant and gently sweet at SMV -4, kunshu (fragrant) in SSI terms. Its kimoto-brewed sister label Hiwata takes the opposite approach, built richer and more assertive for food pairing, while the Tokubetsu Junmai on this page offers a softer, fuller-bodied junshu-style middle ground.
Which bottle should you try first?
Start with the Junmai Ginjo, explicitly the flagship bottling, prized for its elegant aroma and gentle rice sweetness at SMV -4.
How does Hagino Tsuru compare to other Miyagi breweries?
Hagino Tsuru’s Elegant & Refined tag lines up with prefecture-mate Urakasumi, while its Rich & Umami side echoes Hitakami instead; Ichinokura stands apart with an Aromatic & Fruity accent, giving Miyagi’s roster a spread from crisp to umami-rich to fragrant.
Frequently asked questions
What did the Sato family do before brewing sake?
They kept an inn on the Oshu Kaido highway in the post-town of Arikabe.
Who runs Hagino Shuzo today?
Head Sato Yohei, with his brother Yoshiyuki serving as toji (master brewer).
What is Hiwata?
A kimoto-brewed sister label to Hagino Tsuru, built richer and more assertive for food pairing, in contrast to the elegant, gently sweet flagship.
The bottles
Junmai Ginjo純米吟醸
薫酒 Kunshu · Fragrant“Flagship bottling; elegant aroma and gentle rice sweetness.”
Tokubetsu Junmai特別純米酒
醇酒 Junshu · Rich“Softer, fuller-bodied special junmai.”
Reading the bars: an editorial flavor reading (0–5) of each bottle — Dry→Rich, Light→Full, Subtle→Aromatic, Low→High acidity — not laboratory values. The colored badge is the SSI four-type classification (薫酒 Kunshu · 爽酒 Soshu · 醇酒 Junshu · 熟酒 Jukushu). SMV and acidity appear only where the brewery publishes them.
Sources: hagino-shuzou.co.jp · miyagisake.jp