Inheritance and intent
The collaboration began with a shared problem.
Takagi Sake Brewery had spent centuries protecting the knowledge of one family brewery while continuing to rethink what sake could become. Hidetoshi Nakata had spent years travelling through Japan and abroad, asking a different question: how could the quality created in a brewery arrive overseas in the condition and context the brewer intended?
N by Hidetoshi Nakata emerged where those two questions met. It was not simply a new label. It joined brewing, maturation, temperature control, traceability and communication into one continuous idea of quality.
Two paths
Different beginnings. The same refusal to compromise.
A four-century inheritance, made contemporary.
Takagi Sake Brewery was established in 1615 in Murayama, Yamagata. In 1993, the sudden retirement of the brewery's tōji threatened the brewery's future, and Tatsugoro Takagi—later the fifteenth-generation head—returned to the family business. At twenty-five, he took responsibility for production and presented Juyondai the following year. Its aromatic, richly layered hōjun uma-kuchi expression stood apart in a market then dominated by light, dry tanrei karakuchi styles.
A journey through forty-seven prefectures.
After retiring from professional football, Hidetoshi Nakata spent seven years travelling across every prefecture of Japan to study its culture and craftsmanship. Sake drew him most deeply. Visits to more than 500 breweries revealed both extraordinary skill and a structural problem: overseas, the conditions for storage, transport and explanation were often not in place, making it difficult for the brewery’s intended quality to reach drinkers.
A meeting of two minds
Admiration became a working relationship.
Among the breweries Nakata encountered, Juyondai held his attention. He recognised not only its refined sweetness, layered flavour and smooth texture, but also the discipline and judgement behind it. What began as respect for Tatsugoro Takagi's work developed into a friendship grounded in a common ambition.
Nakata wanted to create an expression that could introduce the depth of Japanese craftsmanship to international dining, while also building the conditions required to protect that quality beyond Japan. Takagi accepted the challenge. N by Hidetoshi Nakata was born from their combined effort.
“My purpose is to share Japan’s precious assets with the world and help them be loved across time.”— Hidetoshi Nakata, N by Hidetoshi Nakata Brandbook 2024
From bottle to system
N extended the definition of craftsmanship.
N by Hidetoshi Nakata is a limited production of only 1,000 bottles a year. It is made with Yamada Nishiki and Aiyama grown in the Special A district of Yokawa, Hyogo, and natural spring water from Yamagata. After shizuku pressing and bottling, it is matured at −8°C. A small portion from each year is held at the brewery for longer, until its aroma and flavour reach their optimum condition.
The collaboration also addressed what happens after the brewery. A −5°C storage and distribution network, followed by a traceability system, was developed so that official partners overseas could handle the sake to defined standards. In this story, logistics is not separate from craft. It is the final part of respecting the brewer's intention.
What the collaboration represents
Four principles behind the name.
Tradition is active.
Inheritance is preserved by understanding it deeply enough to create for the present.
Quality continues after brewing.
Maturation, temperature, transport and service all shape what finally reaches the guest.
Craft is collective.
Farmers, brewers, glassmakers, metalworkers, papermakers and other specialists contribute to one expression.
Global reach requires context.
Making sake visible internationally also means giving chefs, sommeliers and guests a language for understanding it.
Continue reading
The story beyond this feature.
Source note: this editorial feature is based on Juyondai Brandbook 2024 and N by Hidetoshi Nakata Brandbook 2024. Product names and historical details follow the terminology used in those materials.
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