The Sake Anatomy › Sake Brand Index › Houraisen
No.49 · Brewery Profile
Houraisen蓬莱泉 · Sekiya Jozo 関谷醸造
Founded in 1864 in the mountain town of Shitara in Aichi’s Okumikawa region, Sekiya Jozo mills all of its rice in-house and grows sake rice. Its allocation-only Junmai Daiginjo ‘Ku’ is a long ice-aged Yamada Nishiki cuvée.
Who makes Houraisen?
Sekiya Jozo, founded in 1864 in the mountain town of Shitara, in Aichi’s Okumikawa region. The brewery mills all of its own rice in-house and grows its own sake rice, an unusual degree of vertical control.
What does Houraisen taste like?
Tagged Elegant & Refined, the range splits between the fragrant (kunshu) flagship Ku and the richer (junshu) secondary label Ichinen Fudo. Ku is a long, ice-temperature aged Yamada Nishiki cuvée milled to 40%, rated 4/5 for aroma, while Ichinen Fudo sits at a more moderate 3/5 across body and aroma.
Which bottle should you try first?
Ku (Kuu) is explicitly the allocation-only flagship, ice-temperature aged and built from Yamada Nishiki milled to 40% — the label’s defining bottle.
How does Houraisen compare to other Aichi breweries?
Houraisen’s single Elegant & Refined tag is narrower than prefecture-mate Kamoshibito Kuheiji, tagged Acidity-driven and Elegant & Refined, and Kunizakari, tagged Elegant & Refined and Dry & Crisp — Houraisen keeps to a purer refined register without an added acidity or dryness emphasis.
Frequently asked questions
What is distinctive about how Houraisen is brewed?
Sekiya Jozo mills all of its own rice in-house and grows its own sake rice, rather than relying on outside suppliers.
What is the Ku (Kuu) bottle?
An allocation-only Junmai Daiginjo milled to 40% from Yamada Nishiki, long aged at ice temperature.
How many bottles does Houraisen make?
Two on this page: the flagship Ku (Kuu) and the brewery’s secondary label, Ichinen Fudo.
The bottles
Ku (Kuu)空
薫酒 Kunshu · Fragrant“Ice-temperature aged; the allocation-only flagship.”
Ichinen Fudo一念不動
醇酒 Junshu · Rich“The brewery’s secondary label.”
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: houraisen.co.jp · japansake.or.jp