Greetings from the President

Representative Director and President/Sadayoshi Nishikawa
President Kuniko Osabe

In 1711, Ozeki was established by the first Chobei Osakaya of the Osabe family in Imazu, Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture. Our head office is still located there.

Since its founding, Ozeki has enjoyed longstanding and widespread patronage as a choice sake from Nada. In 2011, thanks to this support, Ozeki marks its 300th anniversary.

Known as a sake region, Nada (formally called Imazu Village in Muko County, Settsu Province) is blessed with so-called Miyamizu, or groundwater originating in the Rokko mountain system. The region is also ideal for rice production, including Yamada-nishiki, the renowned sake rice.

In the Edo period, it's said, kudari-zake (sake shipped from Kyoto and Osaka to Edo) from Nada and transported from Imazu port to Edo by taru-kaisen (cargo-vessels carrying sake barrels) was both fresher and tastier than sake transported by land and was prized as a premium sake. While many of the old documents of this time were lost in the large-scale air raids in the last days of the war, the unrelenting pursuit of the craftsmen's skills found exclusively at Ozeki and a passion for sake-making have been handed on to successive generations of craftspersons, bringing Ozeki to this day.

Japanese sake embodies a food culture passed on from antiquity. We believe sake emerges from an ongoing dialogue between the sake maker and natural elements, like the koji mold. The fermentation techniques we've cultivated represent an exciting area of technology, one that promises numerous unexplored treasures beyond Japanese sake.

Lifestyles and consumer demands have diversified in recent years, and the pace of change in lifestyles and consumer demands have accelerated. Despite these changes, drawing on both new perspectives and the wisdom and skills of our predecessors, we at Ozeki remain committed to proposing new products to customers that will help them lead healthy, joyful lives.

We are grateful for your continuing support for the Ozeki brand.

Kuniko Osabe
President, Ozeki Corporation