About Hasegawa Eiga

Our products are about more than just
flavor and bouquet–they provide a unique experience
that conveys the beauty and the many delights of Japan.

For the last 350 years, the Hasegawa family has been
making sake the traditional way in the glorious region of Banshu,
blessed with plentiful supplies of high-quality rice and sparkling clear water.
With enthusiasm and dedication to our craft and to our customers,
we are committed to producing the finest sake
that embodies all that is good about Japan.

The Japanese respect for etiquette and love of nature nurtures
a deep sensitivity and appreciation of wisdom,
resilience and beauty.

And this is present in every drop.
Depth of flavor that reaches into your heart,
beauty of time and space that makes
each passing day a thing of beauty.

The sentiment behind Hasegawa Eiga
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The uncompromising quality philosophy of Eiga Hasegawa

The manual fukuro shibori extraction process
leaves only purity of flavor

Mechanical extraction is normally used for
the process of transforming unrefined sake (moromi) into the finished product.
Mechanical extraction is fast and efficient,
and suitable for large production volumes.
Yet Eiga Hasegawa insists on the painstaking
fukuro shibori gravity drip method of extraction using cloth bags.
The bags are filled with moromi then suspended from poles.
The pure sake drips slowly, drop-by-painstaking-drop,
from the bags into vats below.
The living ferment is subjected to no force whatsoever
other than the natural pull of gravity.
The complete absence of external stressors on the ferment delivers a product
that boasts unadulterated purity of flavor.
Fukuro shibori is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process
that generates only very limited quantities of finished product.
Eiga Hasegawa is dedicated to the preservation of time-honored traditional techniques
and the pursuit of quality rather than quantity.

The traditional futa-koji technique

Koji is a key ingredient of the fermentation process in producing sake.
Since koji has a major bearing on the quality of the finished product,
making the koji is a key part of the production sequence.
It is critical to get the temperature and humidity just right so that
the living power of koji mold is
transferred to every single grain of rice.
Eiga Hasegawa employs an ancient traditional method called futa-koji,
whereby temperature regulation is achieved by means of a series of
wooden lids with small mounds of rice on each.
The lids are reconfigured every two to three hours while monitoring
the temperature of the rice to detect even the slightest change,
in a process that continues through the night.
The end result of this highly labor-intensive procedure is sake
with an exquisite taste and flavor.
Today, the technique embraced by Eiga Hasegawa lives on
in a handful of artisans who are committed to preserving a technique
that requires strength, patience and skill,
but delivers the ultimate prize for sake aficionados.

The finest Yamada Nishiki
sourced from Special A Zones

The sake-making process begins with the rice.
Yamada Nishiki is considered the highest grade of sake rice,
and is famed for being notoriously difficult to cultivate.
The rice plant has tall stems with large, fat grains,
a combination that makes it vulnerable to the effects of wind and rain.
The highly sought after white core rice requires
significant temperature differentials to stimulate growth,
demanding considerable ingenuity on the part of the farmer.
Eiga Hasegawa uses Yamada Nishiki rice grown in Ozawa,
a designated Special A Zone in the city of Kato in Hyogo prefecture.
Special A Zones are known to produce the very best Yamada Nishiki rice.
Such areas are extremely rare.
The rice paddies at Ozawa boast soil with excellent water
retention properties, while the local climate provides a day-night temperature difference
that is ideal for Yamada Nishiki rice.
In addition to favorable soil and climatic conditions,
it takes great dedication and expertise to produce the very best sake rice.
The splendor of Eiga Hasegawa sake comes from
Yamada Nishiki rice grown by a truly dedicated group of farmers.

A sake brewery is defined by the water it uses

The water used in the sake-making process has
a major bearing on the quality of the final product,
and is often considered the defining characteristic of each brewery.
Eiga Hasegawa is made using infiltration riverbed water
from the Hayashida river, part of the Ibo river system that finds its source
in Shikagatsubo–a region famed for its natural beauty.
The soft, slightly sweet water produces sake
that is smooth and gentle to the palate.
Making sake requires more than just skill and passion–it
requires crystal clear water, filtered and refined over generations
by the natural forests and soils of the countryside.
Eiga Hasegawa is truly a gift of nature.

Techniques painstakingly refined over 350 years

Eiga Hasegawa first began making sake in 1666
(the 6th year of the Kanbun era) in the Banshu region.
The famed Eiga Hasegawa brand has been producing quality sake for 350 years since.
Techniques and processes have been continually refined
and improved over the years, reflecting the ongoing evolution
of the brewing industry.
But change is never made lightly; improvements must be proven to
have genuine benefit for generations to come.
In this way, Eiga Hasegawa has carefully preserved
the essence of 350 years of sake brewing tradition.

Traditional Japanese techniques
featured in every step

Hasegawa Eiga Sake Brewery
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In Kanbun 6 (1666),
our history started here.

The history of Hasegawa Eiga
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