Watanabe Shuzouten 渡辺酒造店

Head north along the Hida Road.
In “Hida Furukawa”, a town with rich poetry
There is a sake brewery in Horai.

Horai Sake Brewery is located in Furukawa Town, Hida City, which is located at the northernmost tip of Gifu Prefecture, in the Furukawa Basin surrounded by mountains such as the Northern Alps and the Hida Mountains, which are over 3,000 meters above sea level.
“The townscape of Hida-Furukawa has a splendid sense of elegance and antiquity. Because it has not been turned into a tourist attraction, you can feel its unpretentious demeanor, facial expressions, and even personality,” said author Ryotaro Shiba (“Kaido wo Yuku”). Ichinomachi, lined with old merchant houses with latticework, has a calm appearance, and the white-walled and black-waisted storehouses along the Seto River still have a calm atmosphere.

Appearance Go through the indigo curtain and enter Horai Sake Brewery. There is a tranquil time and rich atmosphere unique to a long-established store that has been brewing delicious sake for many years.

In 1732 (Kyoho 17), the first Kyuemon of the Watanabe family started a business in this area under the name of “Kojoya”. I made a birth.
The Watanabe family started sake brewing in 1870 under the fifth generation Kyuemon Akira.
Unable to forget the deliciousness of the sake he tasted when he traveled to Kyoto to trade raw silk, he set up a sake brewery in his hometown and began brewing sake with the sole purpose of producing delicious sake.

The finished sake was extremely well received, and it is recorded that he got drunk on indescribable gem drops while singing Noh songs at a feast to enjoy sake.
At that time, he chose “Horai”, which was sung in the Noh song “Tsurukame”, as a brand. “Horai” is a land of perpetual youth and longevity where hermits are said to live… And “Horai” is an auspicious “sake language” that gives people joy and brings good luck.

During the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa eras, he visited famous breweries all over the country and strived to learn sake brewing techniques.　Wakayama Bokusui and other writers and artists visiting Hida loved it, and the name gradually became known to sake connoisseurs.
It has been highly praised as a representative sake of Hida, rooted in the local climate, and has been loved by local people for a long time as a part of the joy of life with seasonal ingredients.

Current

“Sake brewing with heart and humanity, brewing straight to make the most of the life of rice”
That’s what we aim for.

Each sake brewery has something to pursue. It should be called the soul of a sake brewery that cannot be thrown away. What Horai pursues is “sake brewing with heart and humanity that makes the best use of the life of rice.”

Emphasizing tradition and hand-made, we use old wooden tools and value the scent and texture that you can feel directly.

Currently, the 9th generation, Hisanori Watanabe, with the cooperation of the chief brewer, Koji Kitaba, has brought to fruition the Hida cold winter cold brewing that has been handed down since the company’s founding. There is no choice but to pass down the tradition.

飛騨路を北へ。
詩情豊かにたたずむ町“飛騨古川”に
蓬莱の酒蔵はあります。

蓬莱の酒蔵がある飛騨市古川町は、岐阜県の最北端に位置し、標高3千ｍを越える北アルプス連峰や飛騨山脈などの山々に囲まれた古川盆地に位置します。
『飛騨古川の町並には、みごとなほど、気品と古格がある。観光化されていないだけに、取りつくろわぬ容儀や表情、あるいは人格をさえ感じさせる』と語ったのは作家司馬遼太郎氏（「街道をゆく」）。出格子の古い商家が並ぶ壱之町は落ち着いたたたずまいを見せ、白壁黒腰壁の土蔵が続く瀬戸川沿いには今なおしっとりした情緒が漂います。

外観 藍色の暖簾をくぐって蓬莱の酒蔵へ。そこには長年にわたって美酒を醸し続けてきた老舗ならではの、静謐な時間と濃密な空気が満ちています。

享保17年（1732）に渡邉家の初代久右衛門が当地で「荒城屋」と称して業を起こし、２代目久右衛門は両替業を始めると共に生糸を製造して京都に販売し、産を成しました。
渡邉家が酒造りを始めたのは明治3年（1870）、５代目久右衛門章でした。
生糸の商いで京都に旅した折に口にした酒の旨さが忘れられず、自ら居するこの地に酒蔵を構え、旨い酒をとの一心で酒造りを始めました。

出来あがった酒は至極好評となり、酒を愛でる宴で謡曲を謡いながら、えもいわれぬ、珠玉のしずくに酔ったと記されています。
その時、謡曲「鶴亀」で謡われた「蓬莱」を銘柄として選びました。「蓬莱」は仙人が住むと云われる不老長寿の桃源郷・・・そして、「蓬莱」は人に慶びを与え、開運をもたらす縁起のよい「酒ことば」です。

明治・大正・昭和と、全国の銘醸地を訪れ酒造技術の習得に努め、美酒醸造の努力を惜しまず、品質至上主義を貫き数々の品評会で上位入賞。　若山牧水をはじめ飛騨を訪れる文人墨客に愛飲され、その名は次第に酒通の知るところとなりました。
飛騨を代表する美酒として高い評価を受け、地域風土に根差し、四季折々の食材と共に生活の慶びの一献として、永きにわたり地元の人々に愛し続けられています。

現在

「米のいのちを生かすよう、真っ直ぐに醸す、心や人間性の酒造り」
それが私たちのめざすところです。

それぞれの酒蔵には追い求めるものがあります。それはどうしても捨てられない酒蔵の魂というべきもの。蓬莱が追い求めるものは「米のいのちを生かすよう、真っ直ぐに醸す、心や人間性の酒造り」。

伝統と手造りを重視し、古い木の道具を使い、じかに感じる香りや手触りを大切にしています。

現在、9代目・渡邉久憲は杜氏・北場広治の協力を得て、創業以来受け継がれた飛騨厳冬寒造りを開花させ、今まさに酒造り151年目を迎え、技術研鑚、人材育成、伝統文化の伝承に余念がありません。