Juyondai was featured in dancyu magazine
June 13, 2025
Series: “The New Sake World Opened by Juyondai — The Work and Impact of 15th-Generation Tatsugoro Takagi”
Akitoshi Takagi, the 15th-generation owner (who took the name Tatsugoro in 2023), released Juyondai in 1994. Thirty years later it is still wildly popular and one of the hardest sakes to find. Of the 53 authorized shops nationwide, Izumiya in Kōriyama, Fukushima, has dealt directly with the brewery since Juyondai’s debut. Its owner, Hirotaka Satō, has supported Takagi more closely than anyone else. Born in 1968, the brewer and the shop owner share the same age. How did they meet and build their bond?
The liquor shop that matters most to a solitary superstar brewer
“Izumiya can be strict, but their comments always hit the mark. I want to brew sake that makes Hirotaka at Izumiya say ‘This is good.’”
One summer evening in a Yamagata bar, these words from Takagi surprised the other brewers. Known for trusting only his own palate and never chasing trends, this leading figure in sake still cared deeply about the judgment of a single shop owner. The realization was unexpected.
What kind of place is Izumiya, the shop that makes Takagi say he wants to impress it, and who exactly is its owner, Hirotaka Satō?
Kōriyama, Fukushima, is the gateway to the Tōhoku region. Izumiya sits about three kilometers from JR Kōriyama Station in a quiet residential area with few shops or restaurants. The late Ryūzō Satō, who opened the store in 1963 at age 26, once said, “People told me it’s the worst location—without something special, no customers would come.”
Even with that disadvantage, Izumiya is always busy and lively—that “something special” clearly exists. The shop is spotless, bottles shine, and 12 staff members work quickly. It carries sake from 110 breweries and shōchū from 15; there are also Japanese wines and craft beers. It may not stock the most labels in Japan, yet 99 percent come straight from the makers, including highly sought-after brands like Juyondai, Hiroki, and Jikon. This direct trade shows the deep trust brewers place in the store.
As the second-generation owner, Satō leads “Team Fukushima,” a group that boosts local sake. He is also a trusted adviser to young brewers nationwide and works behind the scenes on events like “Wajō Waraku” and the “Sendai Sake Summit,” where makers and shops join forces.
“My job is to help brewers shine and to let customers have fun. Being a liquor shop owner is the best!” Satō says with constant energy. His pride comes from many good connections, and meeting Takagi was the biggest turning point of all.
They first met in May 1994 at a hot-spring inn in Yamagata, both aged 25. Until the year before, Takagi had worked at a high-end supermarket under the Isetan group in Tokyo. When his father told him the brewmaster would retire, he quit, returned to Yamagata, and finished his first brewing season in March 1994. He then started direct sales of his new label, Juyondai, to two Tokyo sake shops: Suzuden in Yotsuya and Koyama Shōten in Tama.
By chance, Satō had also left his training at Suzuden a year earlier when his father fell ill, returning to Fukushima to run Izumiya with him. After touring Dewazakura Brewery in Yamagata with former Suzuden colleagues, they planned a reunion party at nearby Tendō Onsen.
Takagi joined the party because one member had been his classmate at Tokyo University of Agriculture. “He said a friend nearby had just started brewing, so we invited him. A tall, thin guy showed up with a bottle of his unpasteurized sake. I can’t forget that taste,” Satō recalls. The sake was Juyondai Junmai Ginjo Omachi Nakadori. “The moment I drank it, flavor and aroma burst in my mouth like biting fresh fruit—sweetness, acidity, and fragrance in perfect balance. It was amazing. I had never felt such an impact, and Takagi himself was bursting with ideas. We clicked right away.”
As they parted, Takagi said, “Please handle my sake,” proposing direct trade. Although moved, Satō thought he should check with his father, the store owner. Back in Kōriyama he reported everything, and when Takagi’s samples arrived, his father cried, “I’ve never tasted sake like this!” By late May 1994, they had begun trading two Junmai Ginjo products.
Because the label was unknown, Satō held in-store tastings and sake events, telling customers, “This is a new sake, brewed by a maker my own age,” working hard to spread the Juyondai name.
Back then the shop’s best-sellers were light, dry Niigata sakes that his father had sourced, and customers came to chat with the senior Satō. Hirotaka, often seen as just “the young guy,” felt frustrated. “But Juyondai was the first brand I chose myself, so I wanted everyone to drink my sake.” His motivation soared.
Izumiya’s foundation was built by Ryūzō Satō. Guided by Mitsuhisa Kodama of Kōshūya—known as the “father of local sake”—he studied with the Miyagawa-kai group. Dewazakura became his first direct-trade brand outside Fukushima, and, by coincidence, that brewery later led Hirotaka to meet Takagi.
Dewazakura sold well, but Ryūzō knew they needed more brands, especially the popular Niigata sakes of that era. However, those breweries were swamped with requests, and even meeting them was hard. He visited for years, slowly gaining contracts. It took 13 years to secure Koshino Kanbai, and he first met the makers of Setchūbai and Chiyono Hikari only when he brought Hirotaka along. “They felt reassured seeing a successor,” Ryūzō said, watching his son work in the renovated shop in 2009. Brewers are cautious with new partners—they look for relationships that will last into the next generation.
Takagi entrusted sake he’d brewed so intensely that he was hospitalized afterward to Satō, whom he had just met—not simply because they were the same age and got along. He must have wanted to walk the road ahead together with the father-and-son team who shared his passion for local sake.
