Sasayama-cho
Tamba Toji(Chief Sake Brewers)


Modern Times
Brewing Technique

When the sake industry became prosperous in Japan in the Edo Period (1600-1868), some Tamba people went away to get winter jobs and worked as toji, or chief sake brewers, in Nada (a fine quality sake production center in the city of Kobe) and its surroundings, Ikeda and Itami. This is how the Tamba toji were born. They produced high-quality sake by making the most of their skills and experiences. There were more than 5,000 Tamba toji sake brewers at the height of prosperity in the Meiji Period (1868-1912), and they went to brew sake not only to domestic places like Nada, but also to Manchuria in China.
In the Tamba Toji Sake Brewer Memorial Museum, tools and apparatus for sake producing are displayed and also the process of producing sake is shown, both of which are disappearing because of the modernization of the sake brewing technique.

Source: The Sasayama municipal government

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