SHIMOMURA SHUZO

HYOGO

The nation of Japan is considered an archipelago, or chain of islands, and consists of four major islands and thousands of smaller ones, which are divided into 11 regions. These regions are further divided into 47 prefectures, Hyogo being one of these. Hyogo prefecture is located almost in the centre of the Japanese archipelago on the main island of Honshu and extends from the Japan Sea in the north to the Seto Inland Sea in the south, and further down to the Pacific Ocean through Awaji Island. The prefectural capital of Hyogo is Kobe and its neighbours are the prefectures of Osaka, Kyoto, Tottori and Okayama.

Established in 1884 Shimomura Shuzo is located north of Himeji City, surrounded by farmland and native forests. The brewing season begins in October each year and normally the last tank is pressed in April the following year. Shimomura Shuzo focus on using 100% Hyogo rice with 30-40% of that sourced from growers in the local region. The tank size here is limited to 1000kg of rice and pressing is done solely by ‘fune’ (slow pressing via traditional bag press). They produce only Junmai sake with a strong emphasis on utilising the traditional Yamahai starter method. Their goal is to work towards 50% of their production to be Yamahai. The current Toji (Master Brewer) at Shimomura Shuzo is Kunihio Yamauchi who joined the brewery in 2024. He’s is a young, extremely skilled brewer with a passion for Yamahai and utilising local rice. The philosophy here is their desire for their customers to know what they are drinking, to produce sake that has a presence, where you can taste the rice. 

Black Market Sake is excited to welcome Shimomura Shuzo to the portfolio.