[Otokoyama Sake Brewery Museum in Asahikawa] Sake Brewing Maker Can Be Sampled and Visited

Otokoyama Sake Brewery

Otokoyama Sake Brewery (男山株式会社) is a sake brewing maker in Nagayama located in the northeastern part of Asahikawa city, and Otokoyama Junmai Daiginjoshu (男山 純米大吟醸) has been given the gold medal by Monde Selection for about 40 years ago, and the sake brewing maker is one of most famous sake brewing makers in Hokkaido. They have opened a business since 1899 in the Asahikawa. Although this building is a sake brewing factory making and selling various types of Sake, it has Otokoyama Sake Brewery Museum (男山酒造り資料館) and Front Garden, so it is popular tourist attractions with tourists. About 200,000 people visit here. In front of the sake brewing factory, the visitors can drink water used as sake freely, and can take a walk through the beautiful Japanese‐style garden. At the building, the visitors can observe the history of the sake brewing, and can sample the sake that won in the world international contests freely. Sake Event "Sakagura Kaiho (酒蔵開放)" is held on the 2nd Sunday of Feburary, and about 10,000 people come here.

Movie of Sakagura Kaiho

The name of Otokoyama that Mr. Sanuemon Yamamoto (山本三右衛門), a founder of Momenya (木綿屋), brewed the sake in Itami, Hyogo Prefecture during Kanbun era (寛文年間 * from 1661 to 1673) is named after Otokoyama Hachimangu Shrine (男山八幡宮 * present Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine(石清水八幡宮)) in Kyoto. In those days, the Otokoyama is well-known to the public as one of the most delicious sake. The Otokoyama Sake Brewery succeeded to a seal‐cutter of legitimacy sake brewing from Momenya Yamamoto Family, and has become the head family among a lot of Otokoyama brewing makers in various places of Japan. It is an unusual tourist attraction in the Hokkaido that the visitors can enjoy the sake with about 340 years of history. Except the Otokoyama Sake Brewery Museum, they has Otokoyama Nature Park (男山自然公園) that is famous for Dogtooth Violet.

A direct bus does not run between Sapporo or New Chitose Airport and the Otokoyama Sake Brewery Museum. But High Speed Asahikawa-go (高速あさひかわ号) and Express Nayoro-go (高速なよろ号), express buses, runs between the Asahikawa and the Sapporo, and Taisetsu Liner (たいせつライナー), an express bus, runs between the Asahikawa and the New Chitose Airport, and Sunrise Asahikawa-Kushiro-go (サンライズ旭川・釧路号), an express bus, runs between the Asahikawa and Kushiro, and Limited Express Sekihoku-go (特急石北号), an express bus, runs between the Kitami and Asahikawa, and "North Liner-go (ノースライナー号)", an express bus, runs between the Asahikawa and Obihiro.

List of Highway Bus

Refer to following companies for the highway bus service between the Asahikawa and the Sapporo, the New Chitose Airport, the Kitami, the Obihiro and the Kushiro.

Chuo Bus(中央バス)	From Sapporo to Asahikawa	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Chuo Bus(中央バス)	From Asahikawa to Sapporo	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Chuo Bus(中央バス)	From Asahikawa to Sapporo	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Chuo Bus(中央バス)	From Sapporo to Asahikawa	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Asahikawa Denki Kido(旭川電気軌道)	From New Chitose Airport to Asahikawa	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Asahikawa Denki Kido(旭川電気軌道)	From Asahikawa to New Chitose Airport	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Hokkaido Kitami Bus(北海道北見バス)	From Asahikawa to Kitami	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Hokkaido Kitami Bus(北海道北見バス)	From Kitami to Asahikawa	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Takushoku Bus(拓殖バス)	From Asahikawa to Obihiro	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Takushoku Bus(拓殖バス)	From Obihiro to Asahikawa	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Akan Bus(阿寒バス)	From Asahikawa to Kushiro	HP	Jalan	Rakuten
Akan Bus(阿寒バス)	From Kushiro to Asahikawa	HP	Jalan	Rakuten

ASAHIKAWA

Asahikawa (旭川) that about 340,000 people live is the 2nd largest commercial city in Hokkaido, and has flourished as the center of the North Hokkaido area. Woodworks have been prosperous since the old days, and furniture is famous. Because water is clear, a liquor such as sake of Otokoyama (男山) and Godo Shusei (合同酒精) are famous, too. Popular tourist attractions such as Asahiyama Zoo (旭山動物園) and Biei (美瑛) are around the Asahikawa, so a lot of tourists use tourist bases in the North Hokkaido. As for a climate, the Asahikawa is located in Kamikawa Basin, the largest basin in the Hokkaido, so it is hot that temperature rises to 30 degrees C in a summer, and it is cold that temperature falls to -25 degrees C in a winter, and it snow very hard, too. So a winter festival using the snow is famous. Article is here