Operating since the Bunkyu era of 1860, this Fukushima workshop turns honoki magnolia and hinoki cypress into cutting boards, ohitsu rice tubs, steaming boxes, and wooden bath stools and buckets, alongside lacquered pieces. The business was incorporated in 1990 but keeps producing the same everyday kitchen and bath woodware it has made since the 19th century.
Best for Honoki cutting boards and hinoki bath and kitchen woodware
Established in 1868 in Fukushima, a former Nakasendo post town, this small brewery has kept sake production a hands-on, family affair across generations rather than scaling into mass production. Its two labels, Nakanorisan and Zenkichi, are built on the idea that sake-making starts in the rice paddy, and both are sold from the brewery's own shop and tasting room.
Best for Small-batch Nakanorisan and Zenkichi sake
Founded in 1892 in the former post town of Fukushima, this brewery draws on Kiso mountain water to make a sake line built around a clean, dry profile with a full-bodied finish rather than pushing hard toward sweet or dry extremes. Alongside its junmai and ginjo sake, the family business also makes shochu, liqueurs, and pickled vegetables from local produce.
Best for Junmai and ginjo sake made with Kiso Valley water
Kiso Ebiya has worked as a lacquer artisan workshop for around 160 years in Kiso-Fukushima, Nagano — the town regarded as the birthplace of Kiso lacquerware, not Fukushima Prefecture. It makes hinoki magewappa bentwood boxes and lacquer-coated chopsticks and tableware.
Best for Magewappa bentwood boxes and Kiso lacquerware from the craft's birthplace town
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